Financial ManagementPub Date : 2026-06-04Epub Date: 2025-09-09DOI: 10.1111/fima.70009
Chansog (Francis) Kim, Yun Meng, Christos Pantzalis, Jung Chul Park
{"title":"Political Geography, Myside Bias, and Retail Investor Behavior","authors":"Chansog (Francis) Kim, Yun Meng, Christos Pantzalis, Jung Chul Park","doi":"10.1111/fima.70009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70009","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We examine how political geography shapes retail investor behavior through partisan myside bias—a location-specific form of confirmation bias. Using household-level data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and detailed brokerage records, we find that investors in politically aligned states exhibit greater trust in the market, stronger peer-driven trading, and a higher tendency toward behavioral biases such as local bias, disposition effect, and overconfidence. These effects are most pronounced when political sentiment is strong, highlighting how regional partisanship can distort financial decision-making.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 2","pages":"329-362"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148160624","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":"Sovereign Credit Default Swaps and Corporate Investment","authors":"Hsien-Yi Chen, Sheng-Syan Chen, Feng-Tse Tsai, Ya-Wen Chen","doi":"10.1111/fima.70004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70004","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We investigate the impact of sovereign credit default swap (CDS) introduction on corporate investment. Our analysis reveals that the launch of sovereign CDS significantly expands national credit supply and boosts aggregate investment levels. We further document a positive and statistically significant effect of sovereign CDS introduction on firm-level investment. Crucially, we find that this positive relationship is primarily observed in the subsample of firms without existing CDS trading and is more pronounced for politically sensitive firms. This beneficial effect is driven by the supply of domestic private credit and is amplified in countries characterized by weaker legal environments and lower information transparency. Collectively, our findings suggest that sovereign credit market innovation plays a vital role in channeling firms toward productive investments.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 2","pages":"251-274"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148160831","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}
Financial ManagementPub Date : 2026-06-04Epub Date: 2025-09-08DOI: 10.1111/fima.70007
Shuxun Cai, Kose John, Xiaoran Ni, Chi Zhang
{"title":"Inalienable Human Capital and Inevitable Corporate Payouts","authors":"Shuxun Cai, Kose John, Xiaoran Ni, Chi Zhang","doi":"10.1111/fima.70007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70007","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We highlight that the inalienable nature of human capital can crucially determine the division of economic gains between shareholders and other counterparts in view of corporate payouts. Exploiting the staggered rejections of the inevitable disclosure doctrine (IDD) across 15 US states as exogenous shocks that potentially increase the mobility and bargaining power of key talents, we find that treatment firms increase payouts relative to control firms following those events. The baseline effects are more pronounced among firms that are more reliant on key human capital, have better corporate governance and stronger financial conditions, and are faced with greater product market competition. These findings suggest that higher payouts enable shareholders to deter the capture of economic rents by key talents who threaten to leave. That is, due to shareholders’ counteraction, the inalienable nature of key human capital, a subgroup of labor, may unintendedly result in an unfavorable division of economic gains for labor as a whole.</p>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 2","pages":"275-299"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148160591","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}
Financial ManagementPub Date : 2026-06-04Epub Date: 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1111/fima.70002
Falko Fecht, Roman Inderst, Sebastian Pfeil
{"title":"A Theory of the Boundaries of Banks With Implications for Financial Integration and Regulation","authors":"Falko Fecht, Roman Inderst, Sebastian Pfeil","doi":"10.1111/fima.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We offer a theory of the “boundary of the firm” that is tailored to banks, recognizing the relevance of deposit financing and interbank lending as a substitute for integration. It is based on a single inefficiency that has been at the core of banking theory: risk-shifting incentives in the interest of bank shareholders. We explain why deeper economic integration should also cause greater, albeit incomplete, financial integration through both bank mergers and interbank lending. Despite its simplicity, the model can help understand several significant historical trends in the US banking industry.</p>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 2","pages":"209-228"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fima.70002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148160740","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":"Financial Statement Readability and Firm Debt Choice","authors":"Wajih Abbassi, Hamdi Ben-Nasr, Sabri Boubaker, Arman Eshraghi","doi":"10.1111/fima.70003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70003","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Examining more than 16,000 firm-year observations in the United States, we provide novel evidence showing that higher financial statement readability leads to a decrease in information asymmetry and the need for external monitoring, thereby reducing the reliance on bank debt relative to public debt. Our channel tests show that information asymmetry, as measured by the bid–ask spread, partially mediates the relationship between readability and the bank debt ratio. Furthermore, cross-sectional tests demonstrate that information environment quality and financial constraints exacerbate the negative effect of readability on the bank debt ratio. Our results remain robust to a battery of additional tests. The study provides valuable insights for investors, firms, and regulators to improve transparency and market efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 2","pages":"229-250"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fima.70003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148160747","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}
Financial ManagementPub Date : 2026-06-04Epub Date: 2025-07-09DOI: 10.1111/fima.70001
Dion Bongaerts, Xiaowei Kang, Mathijs van Dijk
{"title":"Revisiting Asset Pricing Models: The Case for an Intangibles Factor","authors":"Dion Bongaerts, Xiaowei Kang, Mathijs van Dijk","doi":"10.1111/fima.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In an increasingly knowledge-based economy, intangible assets may be an important driver of firm performance and stock returns. We introduce an intangibles intensity factor (INT), distinct from the organization capital factor, and show that exposure to this factor strongly predicts stock returns, outperforming traditional factors. Integrating INT into the Fama–French five-factor (FF5) and q-factor models significantly enhances explanatory power across multiple tests and renders the investment factor redundant. An INT-augmented five-factor model (comprising market, size, profitability, momentum, and intangibles factors) outperforms the FF5 and q-factor models in explaining a broad set of anomalies, highlighting the diminishing relevance of the book-to-market and investment factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 2","pages":"187-208"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fima.70001","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148160619","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}
Financial ManagementPub Date : 2026-06-04Epub Date: 2025-09-09DOI: 10.1111/fima.70006
Mingyu (Chandler) Chen, Colin Clubb, Tarik Driouchi
{"title":"Financial Statement Information and Equity Value: The Role of Real Options Characteristics","authors":"Mingyu (Chandler) Chen, Colin Clubb, Tarik Driouchi","doi":"10.1111/fima.70006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70006","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper examines whether firm-specific real options characteristics are equity value-relevant beyond valuation estimates anchored in financial statements. Using extensive historical data for the United Kingdom, we assess and compare the forecast accuracy and explanatory power for stock prices of equity valuation models based on residual income and capitalized earnings against counterparts with add-on real options characteristics. Empirical results show that real options-augmented models enhance forecast accuracy and explanatory power, providing supportive evidence for the value of flexibility from managerial ability to expand, adapt, or abandon. Consistent with real options theory, further evidence shows that the incremental information content of firm-specific real options characteristics is more prominent in high business volatility firms, real options-intensive industries, firms with higher managerial decision-making discretion, and high growth potential firms. Our findings are robust to alternative measurement and sample specifications, accounting for analysts’ forecasts, and several other checks.</p>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 2","pages":"301-328"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fima.70006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148160623","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}
Financial ManagementPub Date : 2026-03-10Epub Date: 2025-05-08DOI: 10.1111/fima.12503
Alexey Ivashchenko, Michael Rockinger
{"title":"Call Me Maybe: Corporate Bond Prices Upon Missed Call Opportunities","authors":"Alexey Ivashchenko, Michael Rockinger","doi":"10.1111/fima.12503","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.12503","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In a sample of discretely callable corporate bonds, we find excess returns of approximately 40 bps realized on the release of the issuer's decision to call or not to call. The bonds that could have been profitably called (in-the-money bonds) but are not called contribute the most to the bond price jump. We attribute the jump to the revaluation of an embedded bond call option due to a missed exercise opportunity, consistent with delayed in-the-money calls being suboptimal no-exercise decisions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fima.12503","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147564429","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}
Financial ManagementPub Date : 2026-03-10Epub Date: 2025-06-20DOI: 10.1111/fima.70000
Douglas (D. J.) Fairhurst, Tae-Nyun Kim, Pil-Seng Lee, Yoonsoo Nam
{"title":"Product Market Threats and Leases","authors":"Douglas (D. J.) Fairhurst, Tae-Nyun Kim, Pil-Seng Lee, Yoonsoo Nam","doi":"10.1111/fima.70000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We document robust evidence of increased corporate leasing in the presence of product market threats. This finding is robust to a battery of tests exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in product market threats to address the potentially endogenous nature of leasing and product markets, including Chinese import penetration, the granting of normal trade relations to China by the United States, excess entry into product markets in the 1990s, and deregulation of the telecommunications industry. The effects are pronounced for financially constrained firms and firms that are more likely to face costly investment reversals. A limited supply of leased capital limits leasing but amplifies precautionary cash holdings in the presence of competition. In additional analysis, we find that increased leasing correlates to a diminished impact of product market threats on firm performance. Collectively, the evidence suggests that leases provide an alternative to cash holdings to mitigate the negative effects of product market threats.</p>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fima.70000","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147567246","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}
Financial ManagementPub Date : 2026-03-10Epub Date: 2025-05-19DOI: 10.1111/fima.12505
Lin Li
{"title":"The Role of Intangible Investment in Predicting Stock Returns: Six Decades of Evidence","authors":"Lin Li","doi":"10.1111/fima.12505","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/fima.12505","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Using an intangible intensity factor that is orthogonal to the Fama–French factors, we compare the role of intangible investment in predicting stock returns over the periods 1963–1992 and 1993–2022. For 1963–1992, intangible investment is weak in predicting stock returns, but for 1993–2022, the predictive power of intangible investment becomes very strong. Intangible investment has a significant impact not only on the MTB ratio (Fama–French high minus low [HML] factor) but also on operating profitability (OP) (Fama–French robust minus weak [RMW] factor) when forecasting stock returns from 1993 to 2022. For intangible asset-intensive firms, intangible investment is the main predictor of stock returns, rather than MTB ratio and profitability. Our evidence suggests that intangible investment has become an important factor in explaining stock returns over time, independent of other factors such as profitability and MTB ratio.</p>","PeriodicalId":48123,"journal":{"name":"Financial Management","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2026-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/fima.12505","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147567028","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}