We analyze the market reaction to the sentiment of the CEO speech at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). As the AGM is typically preceded by several information disclosures, the CEO speech may be expected to contribute only marginally to investors' decision-making. Surprisingly, however, we...

This paper examines the effect of imperfect labor market competition on the efficiency of compensation schemes in a setting with moral hazard and risk-averse agents, who have private information on their productivity. Two vertically differentiated firms compete for agents by offering contracts...

This paper analyzes the implications of currency crises in a model with unique equilibrium. Starting from a typical multiple equilibria model with self-fulfilling expectations we introduce noisy information, following Morris/Shin (1999). Under certain conditions for the noise parameter, all...

We investigate the returns from investing according to corporate social responsibility (CSR) criteria using factor model estimations for a large sample of U.S. firms over the period 2003–2017. To identify the CSR intensity that allows investors to optimize their portfolio returns for a given...

The issuance of sustainability-linked loans (SLLs) has grown exponentially in recent years. Using a scoring methodology, we examine the underlying key performance indicators of a large sample of SLLs and analyze whether their design creates effective incentives for improving corporate...

The right to ask questions and voice their opinions at annual general meetings (AGMs) represents one of the few avenues for shareholders to communicate directly and publicly with the firm's management. Examining AGM transcripts of U.S. companies between 2007 and 2021, we find that shareholders...

This paper analyzes sustainability‐linked loans (SLLs), a new category of debt instrument that incorporates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations. Using a large sample of loans issued between 2017 and 2022, we assess the design of SLLs by evaluating their key performance...

We assess how sustainable finance literacy affects people's sustainable investment behavior, using a pre-registered experiment. We find that an increase in sustainable finance literacy leads to a 4 to 5% increase in the probability of investing sustainably. This effect is moderated by...

Stabilität versus Aktualität – Wann sind stabile Agency-Ratings marktbasierten Bewertungen vorzuziehen? Die Arbeit analysiert auf theoretischer Basis Vor- und Nachteile einer langfristig stabilen versus aktuellen, volatileren Informationsbasis anhand strategischer Portfolioentscheidungen....

Offene Immobilienfonds in Deutschland – Ursprung und Krise Offene Immobilienfonds sind für das deutsche, bank-dominierte Finanzsystem von besonderer Bedeutung. Die kürzlich beobachteten Schwierigkeiten einiger dieser Fonds lösten jedoch eine breite Debatte bezüglich der Notwendigkeit...