As defined contribution (DC) plans have grown and have increasingly become the primary retirement savings vehicle, asset allocators are increasingly interested in incorporating illiquid private assets in these retirement funds to offer participants access to investment portfolios and...

This study examines the extent to which national culture and legal systems influence corporate governance practices. National culture is taken to be the customs and practices that are associated with a particular country. The meaning and derivation of national culture will be discussed further...

In the world that we now live in, never has mankind been forced to deal with living and operating business as usual in a carbon constrained world. The essence of the phrase ‘business as usual' now takes on a new meaning when it is imperative in the 21st century and beyond that business does go...

This paper examines the impact of economic policy uncertainty on economic growth due to its effects on firms' investment decisions, which subsequently justify firms' financial constraints. Using a sample of Chinese listed firms, the study documents that economic policy uncertainty reduce firms'...

We find strong international evidence favoring dividend payout as a salient stock characteristic affecting expected stock returns. We find that dividend-paying stocks outperform non-payers by 0.54% per month in 44 countries, adjusting for exposures to global and regional risk factors. The...

This study's underlying premise is that current pension plan accounting has two important negative effects. First, it distorts the measurement of earnings and net worth in the short run, as well as the pattern of earnings over future periods. Second, this distortion can send incorrect signals to...

We distill evidence about the effects of COVID-19 on companies. Stock price reactions to the shock differed greatly across firms, depending on their resilience to social distancing, financial flexibility, and corporate culture. The same characteristics affected the response of firms' sales,...

This paper studies the impact of banks' dividend restrictions on the behavior of their institutional investors. Using an identification strategy that relies on the within investor variation and a difference in difference setup, I find that funds permanently decrease their ownership shares at...

This article provides an insightful overview of the challenges encountered by the insurance industry when applying the requirements of IFRS 17 to reinsurance contracts. Through the metaphor "Fitting a Square Peg in a Round Hole," the author effectively captures the complexities and difficulties...

Wildfires, suspended soil and other particulates, and industrial emissions combine to raise the urgency of air quality as a planetary threat. This paper introduces Prometheus, a proactive decision-making framework for managing environmental and health risks associated with air pollution and...