EU bonds enjoy high credit ratings thanks to the backing by the EU budget which allows the EU to mobilise resources needed to ensure payments of interest and principal to investors. This memo describes how the EU meets its commitments towards investors.

This paper provides new evidence on the relationship between corporate tax avoidance, and investment inefficiency. Based on a sample of 82,487 firm-year observations across 38 countries, we find that tax avoidance is positively associated with inefficient investments. Particularly, the positive...

We analyze the effect of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on bilateral foreign portfolio investment in equity and debt securities. We find that expropriation risk and the level of a BIT’s investor protection are complementary. Applying a Poisson Pseudo-Maximum-Likelihood model to a panel...

International portfolio management is influenced by the existence of "frictions", factors or events that interfere with trade, which are linked in financial literature to market-specific factors, such as available information, restrictions, investor protection, or market liquidity. Given the...

This paper examines how the implementation of a new dark order - Midpoint Extended Life Order on NASDAQ - impacts financial markets stability in terms of occurrences of mini-flash crashes in individual securities. We use high-frequency order book data and apply panel regression analysis to...

Drawing on a comprehensive sample of listed firms across 33 countries from 1997 to 2014, our findings reveal a negative association between liquidity and corporate innovation, indicating that higher liquidity leads to a reduction in the number of patents and patent citations. These results...

Leveraging the phased implementation of China's capital control reforms, where select firms gradually become investable to the international market, our difference-in-differences regression analyses reveal that these pilot firms significantly curtail the extent of related party transactions and...

Corporate governance is an indispensable practice adopted by companies and firms with its primary beneficiaries or rather stakeholders being the shareholders. Corporate governance is crucial because it protects investors and supports investors in the market sector. Due to deception and fraud,...

Should brokers have the unfettered right to restrict investor trading? GameStop, a brick-and-mortar video game retailer, had been experiencing declining revenues since 2016. However, GameStop saw its share price climb almost 1000 percent in the span of a one- week period from January 21, 2021 to...

Traditionally, fund managers cast votes on behalf of investors whose capital they manage. Recently, this system has come under intense debate given the growing concentration of voting power among a few asset managers and disagreements over environmental and social issues. Major fund managers now...

Mainland China traditionally maintained the one-share-one-vote (OSOV) principle. Since 2019, however, Chinese authorities have introduced rules supporting the dual-class equity structure (DCES) for “innovative enterprises.” Due to concerns about investor-protection issues, China’s DCES...

This study investigates the effect of investor protection (IP) on the quality of financial reports produced by listed firms in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The study used three indicators of IP (protection minority shareholders’interest -MinInt, regulation of stock exchange – RegSE, and legal...

Foreign shareholders can avail themselves of legal protection under three different legal regimes: diplomatic protection, international investment law and international human rights law. Adopting a historic and comparative approach, this article tracks the faded role of diplomatic protection for...

We present insights into novel and complex issues regarding cryptocurrency activities, the related investor protection, and blockchain market risks. Crypto digital assets embody global economic ambition with their significant growth and creativity levels. This study employs a novel research...

The ruling against the Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd’s financial fraud was the first special representative action under China’s new Securities Law, serving as a milestone in investor protection in China. Exploiting the natural experiment provided by the ruling, we empirically test the...

The fine balance between prevention of minority shareholder rights and the independent will of the majority shareholders to run the company they majorly hold is largely dependent on the securities enforcement agencies of the country. In India, The SEBI has engaged in minority protections at the...

The purpose of this study was to determine whether corporate governance is an important and effective technique for enhancing investors' confidence in existing and prospective companies and for creating opportunities for safe investment in Yemen. A survey was conducted among certified public...

The debate over relaxed regulations for exempt offerings and its potential impact on capital formation and investor protection has been rekindled with the introduction of proposed legislation, H.R. 2799 - Expanding Access to Capital Act of 2023. This paper assesses the pros and cons of relaxed...

Issuer choice proposals argue against mandatory securities regulation because market competition alone purportedly constrains exploitation of public investors in primary offerings. Other legal scholars support a mandatory regime. To date, empirical studies have been unable to resolve whether the...

This study investigates whether a policy that aims to protect minority shareholders in young unlisted companies benefits regional outsiders defined as those ventures located in regions that are usually less likely to receive equity finance. It focuses on the UK equity crowdfunding market in...

We investigate a 2012 pay-or-explain regulation implemented by China's Shanghai Stock Exchange. The regulation mandates that eligible firms must either pay 30% of their current-year profits as cash dividends or explain the reasons for their nonpayment through a public conference call. Using...