Digests

Hao Liang and Cara Vansteenkiste
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 3, May 2025, Pages 851–886, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf007

Corporate philanthropy often sparks debate about its impact on shareholder value, particularly in response to natural disasters. Is it a strategic move to enhance reputation, or does it reflect managerial agency problems?… Read more...

Giorgia Simion and Ugo Rigoni
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 3, May 2025, Pages 819–850, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf014

As retail bond issuance can serve as an important funding source for banks during periods of market stress, it raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest between banks and their clients.… Read more...

Pierre Chaigneau and Nicolas Sahuguet
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 3, May 2025, Pages 779–818, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf012

How can corporate executives be motivated to generate both financial and social value? One approach is to integrate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance metrics into executive compensation plans.… Read more...

Donald E Bowen and Jérôme P Taillard
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 3, May 2025, Pages 747–777, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf010

The 2002 NYSE/NASDAQ board independence mandates allow us to study how changes in board composition affect firm performance. The mandates required firms to have a majority of independent directors, with two paths to compliance: (1) replacing non-independent directors with independent directors or (2) “reclassifying” existing non-independent directors as independent once they met certain criteria (such as being three years removed from prior employment at the firm).… Read more...

Itzhak Ben-David, Mark J. Johnson, René M. Stulz
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 3, May 2025, Pages 711–745, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf009

The paper examines the resilience of data-driven lending during the unprecedented economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 crisis, focusing specifically on small business fintech lending in March 2020.… Read more...

Sulkhan Chavleishvili, Manfred Kremer
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 3, May 2025, Pages 685–710, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf013

The Global Financial Crisis highlighted a critical asymmetry in macro-financial linkages, namely the fact that financial conditions have particularly strong effects on real economic activity in times of elevated financial distress.… Read more...

Ali Kakhbod, A Max Reppen, Tarik Umar, Hao Xing
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 3, May 2025, Pages 661–683, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf008

In this study, we ask a simple yet fundamental question: does a firm’s cash holdings always rise in tandem with its size?… Read more...

Sanghyun Hong, Xiaopeng Wei, Blockbuster or bust?
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 2, March 2025, Pages 603–632, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf004

Individuals in an enhanced mood tend to assess future prospects more optimistically, which subsequently fosters greater optimism in their investment decisions and drives stock market returns higher.… Read more...

Eliezer M Fich, Guosong Xu
Review of Finance, Volume 29, Issue 2, March 2025, Pages 567–602, https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaf003

This paper studies whether exposure to salient climatic disasters affects institutional investors’ assessment of the environmental risks threatening their portfolio firms and, in turn, their support for environmental proposals.… Read more...