Publications
Publications
- February 2015
- Review of Financial Studies
Corporate Investment and Stock Market Listing: A Puzzle?
By: John Asker, Joan Farre-Mensa and Alexander Ljungqvist
Abstract
We investigate whether short-termism distorts the investment decisions of stock market listed firms. To do so, we compare the investment behavior of observably similar public and private firms using a new data source on private U.S. firms, assuming for identification that closely held private firms are subject to fewer short-termist pressures. Our results show that compared to private firms, public firms invest substantially less and are less responsive to changes in investment opportunities, especially in industries in which stock prices are most sensitive to earnings news. These findings are consistent with the notion that short-termist pressures distort investment decisions.
Keywords
Citation
Asker, John, Joan Farre-Mensa, and Alexander Ljungqvist. "Corporate Investment and Stock Market Listing: A Puzzle?" Review of Financial Studies 28, no. 2 (February 2015): 342–390.