“Stock Market Information and Innovative Investment in the Supply Chain” by Lantian Liang, Ryan Williams, and Steven Chong Xiao

Here is an interesting fact that spans corporate finance and asset pricing: among U.S. public firms, innovation is mostly concentrated in a very small group of large corporations, and innovation “leaders” experience lower systematic risk than the “laggards.” Jan Bena and Lorenzo Garlappi, in their paper “Corporate Innovation and Returns,” investigate this fact by, first, proposing a winner-takes-all patent-race model, and then empirically showing that a firm’s expected return decreases… Read More »Paper Spotlight: Corporate Innovation and Returns

We are living through a pandemic-induced recession that has slashed many firms’ cash flows with a consequent negative impact on both employment and wage levels. Firms, fighting for survival, will be pressed to cut costs, and wages are an important budget line for the vast majority of firms. At the same time, workers are important assets for firms’ survival and prosperity. What are the effects of paying higher wages on… Read More »Paper Spotlight: Wages and Firm Performance: Evidence from the 2008 Financial Crisis

“Competition for Flow and Short-Termism in Activism” by Mike Burkart and Amil Dasgupta