We analyze the empirical power and specification of test statistics designed to detect abnormal bond returns in corporate event studies, using monthly and daily data. We find that test statistics based on frequently used methods of calculating abnormal monthly bond returns are biased. Most...

We examine a sample of 8,313 cases, between 1951 and 2001, where firms unexpectedly increase their research and development expenditures (Ramp;D) by a significant amount. We find consistent evidence of a mis-reaction, as manifested in the significantly positive abnormal stock returns that our...

Corporate managers frequently announce corporate distributions, including stock splits, stock dividends, special dividends, and increases in regular dividends, on the anniversary of a like announcement at the same firm. The market appears to not fully appreciate the implications of current...

Kolari, Pynnonen, and Tuncez rely on simulation outcomes to criticize the normalization of firm characteristics employed by Bessembinder and Zhang (2013) to assess returns after major corporate events. However, their simulation outcomes simply verify that a non‐linear normalization is...

We propose that fitted values from market-wide regressions of firm returns on lagged firm characteristics provide useful benchmarks for assessing whether average returns to certain stocks are abnormal. To illustrate, we study eight events where abnormal returns have been documented, including...