Using a large dataset of manufacturing firms from 65 countries, we examine whether and how firm inflexibility influences implied cost of equity over the period 1989–2018. We find that, on average, firms with higher levels of inflexibility have a higher implied cost of equity. These results are...

Using a large dataset of manufacturing firms from 65 countries, we examine whether and how firm inflexibility influences implied cost of equity over the period 1989–2018. We find that, on average, firms with higher levels of inflexibility have a higher implied cost of equity. These results are...

For a sample comprised of 36,105 U.S. firm-year observations from 1985 to 2008, we find that firms located in more religious counties enjoy cheaper equity financing costs. This result is robust to a battery of sensitivity tests, including alternative assumptions and model specifications,...

We examine the influence of institutional investors' investment horizons on a firm's cost of equity. We argue that the cost of equity will decrease in the presence of institutional investors with longer-term investment horizons due to improved monitoring and information quality. Our empirical...

We examine the effects of geographic deregulation on banks' cost of equity (COE) using changes in interstate bank branching laws over the post–Riegle-Neal period (1994:Q4–2016:Q4). We find strong evidence that deregulation increases banks' COE. This is driven primarily by active acquirers,...

Using a large panel of U.S. public firms, we examine the relation between annual report readability and cost of equity capital. We hypothesize that complex textual reporting deters investors’ ability to process and interpret annual reports, leading to higher information risk, and thus higher...