Shiva Rajgopal, Kester and Byrnes Professor of Accounting

The SEC just issued a set of final rules in its continuing effort to bring greater transparency to “pay for performance” for CEOs. In its latest instalment, the SEC requires companies to publish, among other things, fair value changes during the year for previously issued equity awards. This is a good first step but does not really get to the heart of the debate.

Dominik Supera, Assistant Professor of Finance

The paper shows that a long-term decrease in the nominal short rate since the 1980s contributed to a decline in banks' supply of business loans, firm investment and new firm creation, and an increase in banks' real estate lending. The driving force behind these relationships was the shift in banks’ funding mix from time deposits (CDs) to savings deposits, which was caused by the decrease in the nominal rate. I show that banks finance business lending with time deposits because of their matching interest-rate sensitivity and liquidity. A lower nominal rate reduces the spread on liquid deposits (e.g., savings deposits), leading households to substitute towards them and away from illiquid time deposits. In response to an outflow of time deposits, banks cut the supply of business loans and increase their price. The decrease in business lending leads to reduced investment at bank-dependent firms and a lower entry rate of firms in industries that are highly reliant on external funding.

Michael Ewens, David L. and Elsie M. Dodd Professor of Finance and co-authors

Local daily newspapers historically played an important role in U.S. democracy by providing citizens with information about local policy issues. In recent decades, local newspapers have struggled to compete with new online platforms. In the first study of private equity (PE) in a struggling industry, we find nuanced effects. PE leads to higher digital circulation and lower chances of newspaper exit. However, the composition of news shifts away from local governance, the number of reporters and editors falls, and participation in local elections declines. The results have implications for knowledge about local policy issues and highlight trade-offs surrounding media ownership.

Tania Babina, Assistant Professor of Finance and co-authors

Open banking is the trend of empowering customers to share their banking data with fintechs and other banks. We compile a novel dataset documenting that governments in 49 countries have implemented open banking policies and 31 more are in active discussions. Following adoption, fintech venture capital investment increases by 50%, with more comprehensive policies showing larger effects. We examine the policy tradeoffs with a quantitative model of consumer data production and usage. Our calibrations show that customer-directed data sharing increases entry by improving entrant screening ability and product offerings, but harms some customers and can reduce ex-ante information production.