Journal of Corporate Finance最新文献

{"title":"Demand-driven corporate social responsibility: Symbolic versus substantive change after environmental disasters","authors":"Juan Manuel García Lara ,&nbsp;Beatriz García Osma ,&nbsp;Irina Gazizova ,&nbsp;Akram Khalilov","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102816","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102816","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine disasters caused by individual firms with severe environmental impacts. These disasters trigger industry-wide demand for corporate social responsibility (CSR). We analyze whether affected firms respond by adopting substantive or symbolic CSR measures. We find that firms increase overall CSR performance through improvements in diversity and human rights rather than decreasing environmental concerns. This suggests firms prioritize symbolic CSR to legitimize their operations rather than substantive measures to mitigate environmental harm. We also document diverging costs and welfare effects. On average, substantive CSR actions are costlier and cause lower margins but avoid divestments by ESG-oriented funds while improving long-term credit ratings. Some of these benefits of substantive actions also accrue through symbolic actions at a lower cost.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102816"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144366250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reconciling the evidence on board diversity mandates","authors":"Daniel T. Greene ,&nbsp;JiHoon Hwang ,&nbsp;Vincent J. Intintoli ,&nbsp;Kathleen M. Kahle","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102838","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102838","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine California Assembly Bill No. 979 (AB 979), the first law mandating racial, ethnic, and other forms of diversity on corporate boards. Conventional <em>t</em>-tests show that stock returns around the enactment of the law are negative, economically large, and statistically significant; returns are more negative for smaller firms and firms with no diverse directors, suggesting higher compliance costs. However, statistical significance disappears after controlling for event date cross-correlation, when comparing returns on event dates to the pre-event distribution of returns, and in multivariate regressions. At least 90 % of firms comply with the first stage of AB 979 and the qualifications of mandated directors are largely similar to those of benchmarks, suggesting compliance costs are low. We also find no evidence that compliance affects firm operating performance. Overall, our results suggest that the diversity mandate has statistically and economically small effects relative to typical variation in stock returns and firm outcomes, which highlights the importance of considering appropriate counterfactuals and examining multiple dimensions when analyzing the impact of such mandates.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102838"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144588295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The good and evil of algos: Investment-to-price sensitivity and the learning hypothesis","authors":"Nihad Aliyev ,&nbsp;Fariz Huseynov ,&nbsp;Khaladdin Rzayev","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102834","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102834","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate how firm managers’ learning from share prices is influenced by two different types of algorithmic trading (AT) activities in their shares. We find that liquidity-supplying AT enhances managers’ ability to learn from share prices by encouraging information acquisition in markets, leading to increased investment sensitivity to share prices. However, liquidity-demanding AT impairs this learning process by discouraging information acquisition. Firm operating performance correspondingly improves with liquidity-supplying AT and deteriorates with liquidity-demanding AT. To establish causality, we use NYSE’s Autoquote implementation as a source of exogenous variation in AT. Our findings demonstrate AT’s significant impact on real economic outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102834"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144322055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Common institutional investors and board representation in rival firms","authors":"Heng Geng ,&nbsp;Harald Hau ,&nbsp;Roni Michaely ,&nbsp;Binh Hoang Nguyen","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102836","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102836","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The large increase in common institutional ownership has raised legitimate antitrust concerns. While the exact channel by which common institutional shareholders might influence firm policy remains unclear, a prominent potential mechanism is corporate board representation. Using hand-collected data on shareholders' board representation, we show that instances of institutional investors simultaneously holding board positions in rival companies are exceedingly rare and do <em>not</em> account for the positive correlation between common institutional ownership and firm-pair profitability. Our findings suggest that board representation by institutional investors is unlikely to represent an empirically potent channel of influence on corporate policy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102836"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144298227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Machine Learning for the Unlisted: Enhancing MSME Default Prediction with Public Market Signals","authors":"Alessandro Bitetto ,&nbsp;Stefano Filomeni ,&nbsp;Michele Modina","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102830","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102830","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper contributes to the growing body of research on private firms, particularly private firm accounting. We explore the economic factors that drive improvements in the default prediction of unlisted private firms using peers’ market-based information. Specifically, we examine how the market-based default probability of a peer firm can provide valuable insights into the often noisy accounting data of private firms. Our analysis delves deeply into these economic issues to uncover essential insights. To address our research question, we utilize a granular proprietary dataset of 10,136 Italian micro-, small-, and mid-sized enterprises (MSMEs) that are required to disclose their financial statements publicly. We propose a novel public–private firm mapping approach to investigate whether incorporating peers’ market-based information improves the accuracy of default predictions for private unlisted firms. Our mapping approach matches the market information of listed firms with private firms through a data-driven clustering technique using Neural Network Autoencoder. This method enables us to link the Merton Probability of Default (PD) of public peers to the corresponding private firms within the same cluster. We then apply five statistical techniques – linear models, multivariate adaptive regression splines, support vector machines, k-nearest neighbours and random forests – to predict corporate default among private firms, comparing model performance with and without the inclusion of Merton’s PD estimated using peers’ market-based information. To assess the contribution of each predictor, we employ Shapley values. Our results demonstrate a significant improvement in default prediction for unlisted private firms when incorporating peers’ market-based information, confirming that the noisy accounting data of private firms alone hinders accurate default prediction. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance for banks to broaden the scope of information used in credit risk assessments of private firms. These results have important policy implications for financial institutions and policymakers, providing a tool to mitigate the challenges posed by the noisy information disclosure of MSMEs while ensuring more accurate credit risk assessments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102830"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144480369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A primer on oracle economics","authors":"Lin William Cong ,&nbsp;Liam Fox ,&nbsp;Siguang Li ,&nbsp;Luofeng Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102800","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102800","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Oracle nodes enable smart contracts to access off-chain and cross-chain data, thus bridging information among digital networks and with the real economy. However, reliance on external input creates security and reliability risks in information aggregation and transfer. We describe the general oracle problem, introduce the Oracle Trilemma – highlighting the trade-offs between scalability, decentralization, and truthfulness – and discuss relevant economic issues concerning the role of oracles in applications such as DeFi, supply chain management, gaming, and prediction markets. In particular, we survey off-chain reporting, off-equilibrium alerting, and dynamic incentive design as promising approaches to resolving the trilemma. We further list oracle vulnerabilities and evaluate oracle sustainability through staking and tokenomics programs. Finally, we highlight empirical studies on how oracle integration affects DeFi adoption, token valuation, liquidity, and system risks. We conclude by presenting emerging trends and suggesting open research questions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102800"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144312714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does government ownership differently impact expected left-tail and volatility risk of bank stock? Evidence from options market","authors":"Pranjal Srivastava ,&nbsp;Sumit Saurav ,&nbsp;Abinash Mishra","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102832","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102832","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine the differences in the options implied left-tail risk and volatility of government-owned and private banks in India. We show that left-tail risk and the cost of insurance for protection against it are high for private banks as compared to government-owned banks, despite their superior asset quality. The COVID-19 crisis, an exogenous shock to systematic risk, increased the left-tail risk more for private banks. Furthermore, the effect of government ownership on left-tail risk is more significant for smaller banks compared to larger banks. Contrary to our left-tail risk result, we find that government-owned banks have higher near-the-money options implied volatility than private banks. Our findings suggest that while government ownership mitigates expected downside risk, it also leads to higher expected volatility due to riskier lending policies and uncertainties about capital infusions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102832"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144322054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Automation cost flexibility and firm value","authors":"Barıs Ince ,&nbsp;Cansu Iskenderoglu","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102828","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102828","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper documents that industrial robots enhance firms’ ability to reduce operating costs, especially during periods of declining sales. Building on this, we propose a firm-level measure of automation cost flexibility (ACF), which quantifies a firm’s capacity to reduce operating costs through automation. Using this measure, we find that firms with greater ACF exhibit higher firm values. To address endogeneity concerns and strengthen the interpretation of our results, we employ: (i) a difference-in-differences specification with a matching algorithm, and (ii) exploit the 2011 Thailand hard drive crisis as an exogenous shock. The paper further reveals that the positive impact of ACF is more pronounced for firms in highly competitive industries, those facing significant competitive threats, industries with high strategic interactions, and smaller firms. This suggests that cost flexibility encompasses a strategic dimension.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102828"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144263236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bitcoin price volatility: Effects of retail traders, illegal users, and sentiment","authors":"Kose John ,&nbsp;Jingrui Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102837","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102837","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, we study the determinants of Bitcoin volatility. We estimate and decompose Bitcoin's realized volatility into jump volatility and continuous volatility components. We find that innovations in Robinhood retail trading are positively related to the continuous component of Bitcoin's volatility. Specifically, the innovations in Robinhood retail trading predict an increase in future ten-day continuous volatility. The innovations in the (anonymous) trading volume of Monero are also positively related to the jump component in Bitcoin's volatility. Specifically, the innovations in Monero trading volume predict an increase in average jump volatility over the next five days. Our results suggest that retail trading positively influences the continuous component of Bitcoin volatility, while the preference for transaction anonymity positively affects the jump component of Bitcoin volatility.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102837"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144263463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corporate mergers and acquisitions under lender scrutiny","authors":"Buhui Qiu ,&nbsp;Teng Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102812","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102812","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper examines corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A) outcomes under lender scrutiny. Using the unique shocks of U.S. supervisory stress testing, we find that firms under increased lender scrutiny after their relationship banks fail stress tests engage in <em>fewer</em> but <em>higher-quality</em> M&amp;A deals. Evidence from comprehensive supervisory data reveals improved credit quality for newly originated M&amp;A-related loans under enhanced lender scrutiny. This improvement is further evident in positive stock return reactions to M&amp;A deals financed by loans subject to enhanced lender scrutiny. As companies engage in fewer but higher-quality deals, they also experience higher returns on assets. Our findings highlight the importance of lender scrutiny in corporate M&amp;A activities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15525,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Corporate Finance","volume":"94 ","pages":"Article 102812"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2025-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144239603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}