Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to measure the effect of superstar gig workers, defined as independent contractors who are the most successful in their field, on shareholder value. Gig workers comprise as much as 33% of the workforce and are projected to exceed 50% by 2028. Thus,...

Purpose: Much evidence exists that rational investors factor rational information into their valuation of shares. This paper aims to examine whether sentimental investors do the same. Design/methodology/approach: To investigate this issue, the author measures sentimental investors’ reaction...

Using data on the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Boston Celtics, which traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 1986 to 1998, I investigate the effect of changes in labor on stock prices. Several findings emerge. The market positively values a top-level education when hiring...

I find evidence that shareholders prefer political connectedness to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Choosing political connectedness with President Trump over CSR causes shareholder value to increase by $345 million per firm, on average. However, choosing CSR over political connectedness...

U.S. News estimates that gig workers comprise one-third of the workforce. Moreover, by 2028, gig workers are projected to form the majority of the workforce. Thus, understanding their effect on shareholder value is important. Overall, I find that the typical gig worker erodes shareholder value...

I examine comovement in the returns of firms added to the Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 Index and their downstream customers. I find that a firm's announcement of inclusion into the S&P 500 is associated with lower value for its downstream customers. On average, when S&P announces the inclusion...

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is an exogenous shock to the information environment of firms listed in the U.S. Thus, firms might adjust their capital structures to reflect the new information environment. I examine SOX's effect on capital structure. Since SOX applies only to firms listed in the...

I use data from the Boston Celtics, which traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 1986 to 1998, to investigate the employee characteristics that move stock prices. Investors positively value top-level training when firms seek to hire inexperienced employees. For all added employees, most of...

Hack-a-Shaq satisfies the criteria of Kandel and Lazear (1979) for being a credible shame event, making it useful for measuring the effect of a shame threat on worker production. I find that high (low) producers, who are less (more) threatened by Hack-a-Shaq, increase (decrease) production in...