Theoretical work suggests an ambiguous relationship between the strength of institutions and the distribution of access to finance. Using a sample of listed firms from 70 countries, this study constructs country-level measures of inequality in access to external finance, and explores its...

The paper describes selling and underwriting procedures in rights issues and open offers, and analyzes the costs of issue reported in prospectuses, including the substantial costs which are not for underwriting. The impression is often given that costs are fixed at 2% of gross proceeds, but they...

The paper compares beta estimates obtained from OLS regression with estimates corrected for heteroscedasticity of the error term using ARCH models, for 145 UK shares. The differences are mainly less than 0.10, for betas calculated using daily returns, but even such small differences can matter...

The relation between defined-benefit pension discount rates and funding status is more complex than it might first appear. Existing evidence suffers from estimation biases which makes precise inference unreliable. We document the biases and quantify their impact on inference in relation to...

This paper investigates the large and diverse discounts in UK open offers and placings. Large discounts are a substantial cost to shareholders who do not buy new shares. The existing literature mainly examines US firm-commitment offers and private placements. The institutional setting differs in...

The paper reviews evidence from the USA and UK on seasoned equity offers (SEOs) and rights issues. There are two main avenues of research: first, the market reaction to announcements of SEOs, and the related questions of the price elasticity of demand for new shares and the timing of issues;...

The paper describes selling and underwriting procedures in rights issues and open offers, and analyses the costs of issue reported in prospectuses, including the substantial costs which are not for underwriting. The impression is often given that costs are fixed at 2% of gross proceeds, but they...

The paper discusses how some of the main types of interaction between financing and value can be incorporated in the discounted cash flow model of valuation, including effects arising from taxes, transactions costs, disclosure, information asymmetry and agency problems. It explains whether a...