{"title":"CEO bargaining power and compensation","authors":"Edward Kim","doi":"10.1111/fire.12437","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12437","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Contracting theories predict that CEO power plays an essential role in the pay-setting process. I provide causal empirical evidence of how changes in the bargaining power of CEOs affect the level of CEO compensation. Using the staggered rejections of previously adopted inevitable disclosure doctrine (IDD) by US state courts to capture an exogenous increase in CEOs’ bargaining power, I find that the IDD rejection results in higher levels of CEO compensation. The effect is strongest in firms whose CEO-board dynamics is significantly influenced by the IDD—firms whose CEOs face greatest job mobility shock and firms that can effectively use the IDD decision as a bargaining tool against their CEOs. The economic magnitudes are substantial in those subsamples of firms, ranging from 22% to 54% increase in compensation levels.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"1033-1061"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fire.12437","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Board busyness and financial leverage: The impact of corporate tax avoidance","authors":"Vu Quang Trinh, Teng Li, Oanh Ha, Jia Liu","doi":"10.1111/fire.12434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12434","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study investigates the impact of “busy” independent directors on corporate financial leverage. Using a sample of 3321 Chinese listed firms from 2004 to 2019, we find that firms with busier boards tend to have higher leverage, with corporate tax avoidance acting as a mediating mechanism. Supporting the reputational incentive hypothesis, busy boards discourage aggressive tax avoidance strategies that would otherwise allow managers to accumulate excess cash reserves. Consequently, these firms become more reliant on external debt financing to meet potential investment needs. Our findings highlight the role of “busy” independent directors in mitigating agency conflicts and shaping financial strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"951-1002"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fire.12434","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Religiosity and gender equality in the managerial labor market: Evidence from executive promotions","authors":"Xiaohu Guo, Xiaochuan Song, Lukai Yang","doi":"10.1111/fire.12435","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12435","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this study, we rank each executive based on their job title and examine gender disparity among them. We find that female executives face a disadvantage in promotions within firms located in highly religious counties. This phenomenon is especially evident among lower-ranked executives, whose promotions are more significantly influenced by cultural factors. Furthermore, our results remain intact when we adopt alternative specifications (e.g., propensity score matching, instrumental variable). This study unveils a hidden pullback of religiosity in restraining firms from advancing female leaders and has a broad implication that cultural dynamics surrounding a community can be very influential on corporate strategies and decisions.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"917-949"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bond mutual fund performance: Evidence from the skill ratio and false discovery rate","authors":"Lifa Huang, Wayne Y. Lee, Craig G. Rennie","doi":"10.1111/fire.12432","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12432","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper applies a Skill Ratio under a False Discovery Rate (FDR) framework to bond mutual funds showing many bonds mutual fund managers are skilled primarily to the benefit of fund sponsors. Our Skill Ratio is the <i>t</i>-statistic of realized gross value added <span></span><math>\u0000 <semantics>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mo>(</mo>\u0000 <mrow>\u0000 <mi>RV</mi>\u0000 <msub>\u0000 <mi>A</mi>\u0000 <mi>G</mi>\u0000 </msub>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <mo>)</mo>\u0000 </mrow>\u0000 <annotation>$( {{mathrm{RV}}{{mathrm{A}}_{mathrm{G}}}} )$</annotation>\u0000 </semantics></math> based on investible Morningstar benchmark-adjusted monthly returns times the natural logarithm of assets under management (AUM). We apply a new simulation process for FDR that mitigates small sample bias and mis-discovery on tails. For 571 actively managed domestic bond mutual fund managers between 1999 and 2016, 28.7% are skilled, including 36.3% of 226 corporate funds and 17.3% of 345 government funds.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"865-894"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fire.12432","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635277","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Evolution of Scope Economies in European Banking Industry","authors":"Jichuan Zong, Jiyuan Zhang, Shirong Zhao","doi":"10.1111/fire.12433","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12433","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The global financial crisis has raised new policy debates regarding the bank's size, especially among the largest banks. Using nonparametric, local-linear methods, we provide new estimates of scope economies in cost, revenue, and profit for European commercial banks during 2000–2020. Our findings reveal that a substantial proportion of banks demonstrated economies of scope (EOS) annually: approximately 45% in cost, at least 61% in revenue, and no less than 67% in profit. These findings indicate that EOS may partly account for the sustained growth and expansion of European banks during this period.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"895-916"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Registered direct offerings and confidentially marketed public offerings","authors":"Rongbing Huang, Hong Qian","doi":"10.1111/fire.12431","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12431","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Both registered direct offerings (RDOs) and confidentially marketed public offerings (CMPOs) sell registered shares and permit confidential marketing before the offering. CMPOs have gained popularity relative to RDOs from 2008 to 2021. We identify two key factors influencing the choice between RDOs and CMPOs. First, issuers with low risk and low information asymmetry prefer CMPOs. Second, CMPOs tend to involve more investment banks and reach more institutional investors than RDOs. There is also some evidence that a regulation requiring shareholder approval for a large private offering might discourage the use of RDOs. On average, both types of equity offerings are followed by low long-run abnormal returns, but participating investors can potentially earn positive abnormal returns by selling their offered shares early. CMPOs are not followed by lower average returns than RDOs, suggesting that the popularity of CMPOs is not because they allow issuers to more successfully time the market than RDOs. Finally, we provide some evidence that post-offer stock performance is related to investor type.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"831-863"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Textual uncertainty in financial disclosures and information asymmetry among investors","authors":"Jeffrey R. Black, Rasheek Irtisam, Pankaj K. Jain","doi":"10.1111/fire.12430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12430","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Prior literature documents a temporary spike in information asymmetry between sophisticated and unsophisticated traders around corporate disclosures because the former process new information faster. Using advances in textual analysis, we show that when management issues more uncertain financial statements, the resulting spike in information asymmetry is significantly lower than for firms that use less uncertain text. Furthermore, textual uncertainty measures of the disclosures are negatively associated with Intermarket Sweep Order (ISO) volume, an order type commonly used by sophisticated traders. This suggests sophisticated traders and algorithms are less able to extract value-relevant information from financial disclosures when they are uncertain.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"799-829"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Md Shahedur R. Chowdhury, Nicos Koussis, Michalis Makrominas, Lenos Trigeorgis
{"title":"Geopolitical risk, uncertainty, real options, and corporate social responsibility","authors":"Md Shahedur R. Chowdhury, Nicos Koussis, Michalis Makrominas, Lenos Trigeorgis","doi":"10.1111/fire.12427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12427","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Motivated by intensified interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and with the backdrop of rising geopolitical risk (GPR), we examine the impact of news-based GPR on CSR activities among US public firms between 1995 and 2019. In line with real options theory, we confirm a negative relationship between GPR and CSR, that the effect is more pronounced for more irreversible investments, and it is channeled through lower profitability, reduced cash flow and asymmetric information. We further assess the differential impact across resource and financial constraints, political regimes, multinational operations, pre-existing levels of CSR, industry membership, and over time.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"729-759"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stakeholder orientation and insider trading","authors":"Mehmet E. Akbulut, Arsenio Staer, Erdem Ucar","doi":"10.1111/fire.12429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12429","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using the staggered adoption of constituency statutes across US states as an exogenous shock to stakeholder orientation, we examine its impact on opportunistic insider trading. We show a strong mitigating effect of stakeholder orientation on insider trading. We find that firms incorporated in states that passed stakeholder constituency statutes have a lower likelihood of opportunistic insider purchases, particularly in environments characterized by high information asymmetry and weak monitoring. Additionally, we find that stakeholder orientation mitigates other measures of financial misconduct, like securities class action lawsuits and financial misstatements. Our results are supported by a variety of robustness and causality tests.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"761-798"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Levan Elbakidze, Douglas Mugabe, Gulnara R. Zaynutdinova
{"title":"Real options investments: Lessons from the US shale gas industry","authors":"Levan Elbakidze, Douglas Mugabe, Gulnara R. Zaynutdinova","doi":"10.1111/fire.12428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12428","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using detailed project-level investment data from the U.S. upstream natural gas industry, we examine the effect of the unexercised real options on individual firms’ real options investments. Drilling an unconventional well is a real options investment that is exercised by fracturing and completing the drilled well at an opportune time. We find a small negative but statistically significant effect of the number of unexercised options on real options investments. There is also a significant difference in the effect of unexercised real options on real options investment decisions of publicly traded and privately held firms.</p>","PeriodicalId":47617,"journal":{"name":"FINANCIAL REVIEW","volume":"60 3","pages":"701-728"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144635573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}