Christos Mavrovitis (Mavis), Nathan P. McNamee, Nickolaos G. Travlos
{"title":"Selling to buy: Asset sales, acquisition financing, and value creation","authors":"Christos Mavrovitis (Mavis), Nathan P. McNamee, Nickolaos G. Travlos","doi":"10.1111/jfir.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In line with increased liquidity offered by asset sales, our findings show that firms selling large assets prior to acquisitions are more likely to use cash as payment method. Additionally, we find that in subsequent cash acquisitions, firms using cash stemming from asset sales experience higher announcement abnormal returns compared to firms using cash from other sources of funds, such as internally generated cash flows, debt financing, and equity issuance, which are linked to agency costs and information asymmetry effects. The higher wealth effects suggest that funds from asset sales are inflicted with relatively lower adverse valuation effects that are associated with other sources of funds.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 2","pages":"703-739"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jfir.70002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148221922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New evidence on the economic motives for bank mergers","authors":"Robert Loveland, Kevin Okoeguale","doi":"10.1111/jfir.12471","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12471","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study uses a comprehensive sample of mergers and acquisitions to reexamine the economic motives for bank mergers. We find that banks with good growth opportunities, high profitability, and high asset utilization rates use mergers to diversify geography and business activity. Banks with low profitability and poor asset utilization rates use focusing mergers to rationalize operations. We also analyze the sources of value creation. We find that local and focusing mergers and distant and diversifying mergers both create significantly positive value. Moreover, any differences in returns between focusing and diversifying deals are driven by firm, industry, and deal characteristics.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 2","pages":"572-599"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148221798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Import competition and stock price crash risk","authors":"Mansoor Afzali, Gonul Colak, Khalela Francis","doi":"10.1111/jfir.12463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12463","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We investigate how globalization-induced import competition affects stock price crash risk. Import competition increases price pressure and reduces profit margins, prompting managers to withhold negative information, resulting in higher crash risk. Based on a sample of US manufacturing firms from 1974 to 2019, we find that firms whose products face declining shipping costs experience increased stock price crash risk. To address endogeneity, we employ a difference-in-differences design centered on China's 2000 Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. Our findings indicate that a stock's tail risk depends not only on firm and managerial characteristics but also on heterogeneous exposure to macroeconomic trends such as globalization.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 2","pages":"510-542"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jfir.12463","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148221763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Junyong Lee, Kyounghun Lee, Frederick Dongchuhl Oh, Jungheon Park
{"title":"The role of internal capital markets during financial crises: Evidence from Korean chaebols","authors":"Junyong Lee, Kyounghun Lee, Frederick Dongchuhl Oh, Jungheon Park","doi":"10.1111/jfir.12464","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12464","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We examine the effective contribution of internal capital markets (ICMs) within business groups during financial crises, focusing on Korean chaebols. Using panel data on Korean firms, we first confirm that chaebol-affiliated firms show a lower probability of bankruptcy than stand-alone firms during crises. We also find that chaebol-affiliated firms with low bankruptcy risk are more likely to be capital providers, while firms with high growth opportunities but higher bankruptcy risks tend to be receivers in ICMs. Moreover, this capital reallocation contributes to improving post-crisis group-level performance. Overall, our study highlights the importance and effectiveness of ICMs for Korean business groups during financial crises.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 2","pages":"543-571"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148221764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Do earnouts create the right incentives? Earnings management around earnout-based acquisitions","authors":"António Pedro Coelho, Gilberto Loureiro","doi":"10.1111/jfir.70007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.70007","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We investigate whether acquiring firms with earnout agreements engage in earnings management during the earnout period. Using a sample of completed deals between 1998 and 2017, we find that acquirers manage their earnings downward during the earnout period to avoid or reduce the earnout payment to the target. This earnings manipulation is more likely to be performed through real activities than accruals. We find evidence that earnings manipulation does indeed lead to lower earnout payments. Our findings also suggest that earnout deals predominantly paid in cash are most likely to create the incentives for downward earnings manipulation through real activities.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 2","pages":"600-630"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148221946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"CEO-employee pay ratio disclosure and dividend policy","authors":"Rajib Chowdhury, John A. Doukas","doi":"10.1111/jfir.70008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.70008","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We examine whether and how the magnitude of the CEO pay ratio affects dividend policy in the context of inequality-averse investors. Our results demonstrate a positive association between the two and remain robust to endogeneity concerns. We find that the CEO pay ratios positively affect dividends irrespective of whether CEO compensation contracts motivate risk-averse or risk-taking policy choices. This non-diverse effect on dividend policy across CEOs with different pay structures contradicts previous studies and highlights the wealth effect resulting from the SEC mandate. Further analyses reveal a negative effect of the pay ratio on cash holdings and investment inefficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 2","pages":"782-820"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jfir.70008","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148221858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Economic policy uncertainty and the cost of equity capital","authors":"Yizhi Wang, Jingze Zhang, Qiaoqiao Zhu","doi":"10.1111/jfir.12460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12460","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this paper, we investigate the role of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) in the cost of equity capital. Our findings suggest that the relationship between EPU and the security market line (SML) varies cross-sectionally. Following periods of high EPU, the SML tends to slope upward, whereas it exhibits a downward slope following periods of low EPU. In the time-series analysis, we observe that EPU significantly and positively affects the beta premium. Further evidence shows that investors may adjust their portfolios, shifting investments from higher-risk assets to lower-risk assets when confronted with high EPU.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 1","pages":"128-153"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147618027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stéphane Chrétien, Frank Coggins, Catherine Deslauriers
{"title":"Tournament effects in equity mutual funds: Impact of economic conditions and investment styles","authors":"Stéphane Chrétien, Frank Coggins, Catherine Deslauriers","doi":"10.1111/jfir.12466","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12466","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mutual funds engage in annual competitions to secure top positions in year-end performance rankings. One effect implies that losing funds increase their risk more than winning funds, hoping to improve their rankings. Another effect involves a rational response by winning funds that anticipate the actions of losing funds and take more risk to maintain their position. We propose a novel testing approach that can better capture systematic risk shifting. We find evidence of a rational response when using traditional measures, but models that account for investment-style variations weaken considerably the effects and detect more risk shifting by losing funds.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 1","pages":"286-325"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jfir.12466","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147618104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Local connectedness and corporate social responsibility","authors":"Erdem Ucar","doi":"10.1111/jfir.12456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12456","url":null,"abstract":"<p>I examine the relationship between social connectedness and corporate prosocial behavior, as measured by corporate social responsibility (CSR). Using a novel connectedness measure, I empirically investigate the effect of local connectedness on CSR for a large sample of U.S. firms. I show that firms in areas with stronger connectedness have higher CSR levels. The local connectedness effect on CSR remains robust after addressing endogeneity concerns and robustness checks. My findings suggest that the link between social connectedness and individual prosocial behavior, highlighted in social science literature, exists for corporations, and local connectedness is an important predictor of CSR.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 1","pages":"253-285"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147618062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elettra Agliardi, Marios Charalambides, Md Shahedur R. Chowdhury, Nicos Koussis
{"title":"Do temporary changes in earnings caused by mean reversion affect firms’ refinancing decisions?","authors":"Elettra Agliardi, Marios Charalambides, Md Shahedur R. Chowdhury, Nicos Koussis","doi":"10.1111/jfir.12452","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12452","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We develop a dynamic two-stage trade-off model with refinancing when earnings are mean reverting. Our model predicts a negative relation between profitability and leverage at refinancing due to conservative debt increases. With multiple rounds of refinancing, the leverage–profitability relation may turn positive when firms have substantial debt tax shields. Our empirical analysis of US firms reveals that firms with moderate incentives to shield tax benefits with debt internalize the temporary increase in earnings caused by mean reversion at refinancing. However, firms with strong incentives to shield tax benefits take on excessive debt despite the temporary increases in profitability.</p>","PeriodicalId":47584,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Financial Research","volume":"49 1","pages":"228-252"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jfir.12452","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147618119","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}