Working Papers

Flow-Driven Corporate Finance: A Supply-Demand Approach

This paper develops a supply-demand framework to quantify and decompose the effects of investor demand on corporate financing and investment. The framework extends demand-based asset pricing models by incorporating endogenous corporate decisions. Using Gabaix and Koijen (2024)'s granular instrumental variable approach, I estimate the model parameters and find that a $1 investor flow generates $0.012 in share issuance within the first quarter and a cumulative $0.24 over two years. Similarly, a 1% investor flow increases firm investment by 0.19% over two years. The results reveal significant asymmetry: firms respond more strongly to inflows than to outflows. Counterfactual analysis shows that investor preferences substantially dampen firms' investment responses to flows. The framework also provides a novel tool to evaluate firms' role in stabilizing the stock market.

Carbon Firm Devaluation and Green Actions

As climate change intensifies, high-emission firms exhibit lower price valuation ratios compared to their low-emission counterparts within the same country. Using data from 43 major equity markets, we find that high-emission firms respond to equity price pressure by reducing carbon emissions, increasing green innovation, and downsizing operations. These changes are unlikely consequences of broader economy-wide trends, as similar patterns are not observed among private high-emission firms. To address endogeneity concerns, we employ an instrumental variable approach using local natural disasters as exogenous shocks to high-emission firms' stock prices, yielding consistent results. Our findings contribute to the ongoing debate on the effectiveness of sustainable investing by demonstrating its tangible impact on firm behavior.

Corporate Fraud and the Consequences of Securities Class Action Litigation

We analyze class action litigation as a corporate governance device. Firms that have lower internal governance standards and those with fewer external monitors are more likely to be indicted. Lawsuits announcements are salient information to the market, as firms, on average, lose 12.3% without a reversal up to three years following the first court date, which points at a substantial reputation loss. Indicted firms readjust their operations, meanwhile sophisticated investors decrease their positions. Stock market activity surges for firms suspected of fraud, and a conservative trading strategy yields significant returns over the subsequent period. Lawsuits also affect competitors both through competitive and contagion channels.