Recent years have witnessed the adoption of new laws regulating the financial analyst profession in the US. The EU followed by passing the Market Abuse Directive and two subsequent Directives in 2003. Were these Directives necessary and did they reach their target? We first analyze whether...

This study examines the economic consequences of the Market Abuse Directive which is notably aimed at curbing conflicts of interest in the EU. It focuses on the impact of this new regulation on stock price changes associated with recommendations issued by analysts potentially affected by...

Peers' valuation matters for firms' investment: a one standard deviation increase in peers' valuation is associated with a 5.9% increase in corporate investment. This association is stronger when a firm's stock price informativeness is lower or when its managers appear less informed. Also, the...

This paper shows that managers use the information they learn from the stock market when they decide on corporate cash savings. In particular, corporate savings are much more sensitive to stock price when the price contains more information that is new to managers. Moreover, the significant...

This paper shows that large cash reserves lead to systematic future market share gains at the expense of industry rivals. Using shifts in import tariffs to identify exogenous intensification of competition, difference-in-difference estimations support the "causal" impact of cash on product...