Stock market anomalies representing the predictability of cross-sectional stock returns are one of most controversial topics in financial economic research. This chapter reviews several well-documented and pervasive anomalies in the literature, including investment-related anomalies, value...

Asset allocation models have evolved in complexity with the development of modern portfolio theory, but they continue to operate under the assumption of investor rationality and other assumptions that do not hold in the real world. For this reason, academics and industry professionals make...

This chapter examines the phenomenon of frequent stock trading. Specifically, it covers the ample research demonstrating the negative effects of frequent trading on investor returns, as well as several possible underlying causes for this irrational behavior. Possible causes of frequent trading...

This research considers the strategies on the initial public offering of company equity at the stock exchanges in the imperfect highly volatile global capital markets with the nonlinearities. We provide the IPO definition and compare the initial listing requirements on the various markets. We...

Corporate spinoffs are important events that are accompanied by valuation and credit-risk implications for the parent firm. Among other benefits, spinoffs can improve corporate focus and enhance valuation transparency. In the debt-contracting context, however, spinoffs can also lead to potential...

“Investor Behavior: An Overview” is the introduction chapter for the book Investor Behavior: The Psychology of Financial Planning and Investing edited by H. Kent Baker and Victor Ricciardi that presents a historical perspective of investor psychology and theory. The field of investor...

This paper examines empirically the effect of managerial ability on firm-level investment efficiency, and the joint effect of managerial ability and financial reporting quality on stock price crash risk conditional on level of investment. Using a managerial ability measure developed by Demerjian...

This paper examines empirically the effect of firm-level business strategies on future stock price crash risk and the extent to which equity overvaluation moderates this relation. By exploring the extent to which firms following particular business strategies are more or less likely to...

Using the details of vesting terms, we document that stock options granted in high sentiment periods tend to have shorter vesting period/duration, and are more likely to vest completely or have a significantly larger fraction vested within one year of the grant date relative to low sentiment...

Using the Great Recession of 2007-2009 as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that CEOs' work experience is significantly related to firm stock performance while their endowed traits play a limited role in the recession. No CEO characteristics matter during the pre-recession period. CEOs who...