We use a new dataset to study how mutual fund flows depend on past performance across 28 countries. We find that flows are convex with past performance, creating an incentive for managers to take excessive risk. The flow-performance convexity is less pronounced in countries with higher levels of...

In this paper we investigate what drives the decision of stock exchanges to demutualize and going public, using a sample of 109 stock exchanges. We find that stock exchanges that demutualize and go public are in countries that have a higher level of economic and political freedom, facing greater...

This paper studies the dynamics of stock market regimes in emerging markets. Using a mixture version of the standard regime-switching model, we find that the 18 analyzed emerging markets fit into three groups. Whereas each of these three groups is characterized by the same two regimes -- a bull...

This paper uses a simple model of mean-variance asset pricing with transactions costs to analyze one of the main empirical phenomena in stock market competition in the last years, the decrease of transaction costs. We endogenize transactions costs as variables strategically influenced by stock...

In this paper we investigate what drives the decision of stock exchanges to demutualize and going public, using a sample of 109 stock exchanges. We find that stock exchanges that demutualize and go public are in countries that have a higher level of economic and political freedom, facing greater...

This paper offers a systematized and updated view of competition between exchanges. It is divided in two parts: In the first part, we describe the recent reforms in stock exchanges and the main forces driving the development of competition. The second part surveys research done on stock exchanges

We study the role of institutional investors around the world using a comprehensive data set of equity holdings from 27 countries. We find that all institutional investors have a strong preference for the stock of large firms and firms with good governance, while foreign institutions tend to...

We investigate whether cross-listing in the U.S. affects the information environment for non-U.S. stocks. Our findings suggest cross-listing has an asymmetric impact on stock price informativeness around the world, as measured by firm-specific stock return variation. Cross-listing improves price...

We develop and test the hypothesis that foreign direct investment promotes corporate governance spillovers in the host country. Using firm-level data on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate governance in 22 countries, we find that cross-border M&As are associated with...

We use a new data set to study the determinants of the performance of open--end actively managed equity mutual funds in 27 countries. We find that mutual funds underperform the market overall. The results show important differences in the determinants of fund performance in the USA and elsewhere...