Firms with higher (lower) vote values have significantly lower (higher) future returns. Constructing portfolios based on an option-based measure of the value of voting rights yields average return spreads of about 80 basis points per month, and the return differences persist up to ten months....

This paper proposes a new method using option prices to estimate the market value of the voting right associated with a stock. The method consists of synthesizing a non-voting share using put-call parity, and comparing its price to that of the underlying stock. Empirically, we find this measure...