{"title":"Social Security and Trends in Wealth Inequality","authors":"SYLVAIN CATHERINE, MAX MILLER, NATASHA SARIN","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13440","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jofi.13440","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Recent influential work finds large increases in inequality in the United States based on measures of wealth concentration that notably exclude the value of social insurance programs. This paper shows that top wealth shares have not changed much over the last three decades when Social Security is properly accounted for. This is because Social Security wealth increased substantially from $7.2 trillion in 1989 to $40.6 trillion in 2019 and now represents nearly 50% of the wealth of the bottom 90% of the wealth distribution. This finding is robust to potential changes to taxes and benefits in response to system financing concerns.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"80 3","pages":"1497-1531"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143798580","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":"Auctions versus Negotiations: The Role of the Payment Structure","authors":"FLORIAN HOFFMANN, VLADIMIR VLADIMIROV","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13446","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jofi.13446","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We investigate a seller's strategic choice between optimally structured negotiations with fewer bidders and an auction with more competing bidders when payments can have a contingent component, as is common in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), patent licensing, and employee compensation. The key factor favoring negotiations is that it allows the seller to set her preferred payment structure—that is, the revenue-maximizing mix of cash and contingent pay; reserve prices are of secondary importance. Negotiations are more likely to dominate if synergies increase in bidders' productivity types (as with acquirer-target complementarities in M&A). Higher dispersion and magnitude of bidders' private valuations also favor negotiations.</p>","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"80 3","pages":"1769-1813"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jofi.13446","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143789799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Venture Capital and Startup Agglomeration","authors":"JUN CHEN, MICHAEL EWENS","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13451","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines venture capital's (VC) role in the geographic clustering of high-growth startups. We exploit a rule change that disproportionately impacted U.S. regions that historically lacked VC financing via a restriction of banks to invest in the asset class. A one-standard-deviation increase in VCs' exposure to the rule led to a 20% decline in fund size and a 10% decrease in the likelihood of raising a follow-on fund. Startups were not wholly cushioned: financing and valuations declined. Startups also moved out of impacted states after the rule change, likely exacerbating existing geographic disparity in entrepreneurship.","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"148 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143767126","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":"In the Red: Overdrafts, Payday Lending, and the Underbanked","authors":"MARCO DI MAGGIO, ANGELA MA, EMILY WILLIAMS","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13447","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jofi.13447","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The reordering of transactions from “high-to-low” is a controversial bank practice thought to maximize fees paid by low-income customers on overdrawn accounts. We exploit a series of class-action lawsuits that mandated that some banks cease the practice. Using alternative credit bureau data, we find that after banks cease high-to-low reordering, low-income individuals reduce payday borrowing, increase consumption, realize long-term improvements in financial health, and gain access to lower-cost loans in the traditional financial system. These findings suggest that aggressive bank practices can create demand for alternative financial services and highlight an important link between the traditional and alternative financial systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"80 3","pages":"1691-1738"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143745276","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}
JOHN WILLIAM HATFIELD, SCOTT DUKE KOMINERS, RICHARD LOWERY
{"title":"Collusion in Brokered Markets","authors":"JOHN WILLIAM HATFIELD, SCOTT DUKE KOMINERS, RICHARD LOWERY","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13432","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jofi.13432","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>High commissions in the U.S. residential real estate agency market pose a puzzle for economic theory because brokerage is not a concentrated industry. We model brokered markets as a game in which agents post prices for customers and then choose which other agents to work with. We show that there exists an equilibrium in which each agent conditions working with other agents on those agents' posted prices. Prices can therefore be meaningfully higher than the competitive level (for a fixed discount factor), regardless of the number of agents. Thus, brokered markets can remain uncompetitive even with low concentration and easy entry.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"80 3","pages":"1417-1462"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143653361","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":"Report of the Editor of The Journal of Finance for the Year 2024","authors":"ANTOINETTE SCHOAR","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13435","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"80 2","pages":"1313-1322"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143638591","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":"BRATTLE GROUP AND DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS PRIZES FOR 2024","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13434","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"80 2","pages":"655"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143638701","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":"Report of the EST and of the 2025 Annual Membership Meeting","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13433","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"80 2","pages":"1323-1325"},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143638590","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":"Creating Controversy in Proxy Voting Advice","authors":"ANDREY MALENKO, NADYA MALENKO, CHESTER SPATT","doi":"10.1111/jofi.13438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13438","url":null,"abstract":"We analyze how a profit-maximizing proxy advisor designs vote recommendations and research reports. The advisor benefits from producing informative, unbiased reports, but only partially informative recommendations, biased against the a priori likely alternative. Such recommendations induce close votes, increasing controversy and thereby the relevance and value of proxy advice. Our results suggest shifting from an exclusive emphasis on recommendations, highlighting the importance of both reports and recommendations in proxy advisors' information provision. They rationalize the one-size-fits-all approach and help reinterpret empirical patterns of voting behavior, suggesting that proxy advisors' recommendations may not be a suitable benchmark for evaluating shareholders' votes.","PeriodicalId":15753,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Finance","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":8.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143635275","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}