Search

This paper studies the value relevance of the options market by focusing on convertible bond pricing. Pricing convertible bonds requires essentially the same set of information necessary to price options. Using a regression discontinuity design based on minimum stock price requirements for option listings, we find that the availability of stock options helps issuers attract more convertible bond buyers and reduces convertible issuers’ cost of financing. Our results highlight that the availability of individual stock options can add value to security issuers.

In this article, we show that exogenous director distraction affects board monitoring intensity and leads to a higher level of inactivity by management. We construct a firm-level director “distraction” measure by exploiting shocks to unrelated industries in which directors have additional directorships. Directors attend significantly fewer board meetings when they are distracted. Firms with distracted board members tend to be inactive and experience a significant decline in firm value. Overall, this article highlights the impact of limited director attention on the effectiveness of corporate governance and the importance of directors in keeping management active.

Mutual fund families increasingly hold bonds and stocks from the same firm. We study the implications of such dual holdings for corporate governance and firm decision-making. We present evidence that dual ownership allows financially distressed firms to increase investments and to refinance by issuing bonds with lower yields and fewer restrictive covenants. As such, dual ownership reduces shareholder-creditor conflicts, especially when families encourage cooperation among their managers. Overall, our results suggest that mutual fund families internalize the shareholder-creditor agency conflicts of their portfolio companies, highlighting the positive governance externalities of intra-family cooperation.

Background: With increasing life expectancy and aging population, more octogenarians would benefit from total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The aim of this study is to evaluate the survivorship of TKA in octogenarian and their long-term outcomes. Methods: This was a retrospective review of 67 patients aged above 80 years who had primary TKA performed between 2005-2013 at a single centre. A sex-matched younger cohort of 67 primary TKAs during the same time-period was recruited for control. 5- and 10-year survival was calculated. Pre- and peri-operative factors were collected and compared. Post-operative range of motion, Knee Society Score (KSS) and Function Score (KFS) were collected and compared. Rate of revision, infection, aseptic loosening and mortality was collected.Results: The mean follow-up period was 10.39±2.29 years. The 5- and 10- year survival of octogenarian group was 85.1% and 54.6% respectively. Pre- and peri-operative factors between the octogenarian and control groups were comparable (p>0.05). Both groups showed improvement in range of motion, KSS and KFS post-operatively. Rate of revision, aseptic loosening and deep infection was 0% in octogenarian and 1.5% in control group. Conclusions: TKA can be performed in patients with age above 80 years old with comparable post-op knee range, complication rate and long-term functional score. Advanced age should not be a limiting factor for TKA.

Mutual fund families increasingly hold bonds and stocks from the same firm. We study the implications of such dual holdings for corporate governance and firm decision-making by exploiting variations in dual ownership resulting from the rise in the popularity of bond mutual funds and from cross-family fund mergers. We present evidence of a reduction in shareholder-creditor conflicts, which allows firms to increase valuable investments and to refinance by issuing bonds with lower yields and fewer restrictive covenants. Overall, our results suggest that fund families internalize the shareholder-creditor agency conflicts of their portfolio companies, highlighting the benefits of such institutional ownership.

This paper provides evidence that the availability of individual stock options adds value to security issuers. We focus on convertible bond issues because pricing convertible bonds requires essentially the same set of information necessary to price options. By exploiting the SEC’s minimum stock price requirement for option listing to employ a regression discontinuity design, we find that the availability of stock options significantly affects the pricing of convertible bonds. In line with options providing information, the effect is stronger when the overall information environment is poor. Listed options help issuers attract more convertible bond buyers and reduce the cost of financing. Overall, our results highlight the value relevance of the options market.

This paper provides evidence that individuals overweight recent experiences with one task when forming beliefs about other tasks, which I term overgeneralization. Using data on sell-side equity analysts and exploiting the diversity of their industry coverage, I show that analysts overgeneralize bad news from other coverage industries and make overpessimistic earnings forecasts for the focal firms. By comparing analysts who cover the same firm at the same time but experience different news from other industries, my empirical approach ensures that differences in firms' fundamentals cannot drive the results. Furthermore, I document that analyst overgeneralization has significant effects on the stock market: the resulting analyst disagreement increases trading volumes and return volatilities, and the resulting analysts' pessimism leads to temporary underpricing.

The chalcogenide CdSe quantum dots (QDs) were obtained by wet chemical synthesis route, using cadmium oxide and pure selenium as precursors, hexadecylamine (HDA), tetradecylphosphine oxide (TDPO) and tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) as complexing agents in tri-n-butylphosphine (TBP) solvent in the reactor with an argon protection atmosphere. This study aims at manipulating the size of QDs for the potential in vivo medical applications. The CdSe nanoparticles were analyzed by particle size analyzer, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, FE-SEM, TEM, and XPS. The desired particle size and photoluminescence response of CdSe QDs can be achieved by adjusting proper molar ratios of HDA/TOPO and CdO/Se, along with the synthesis temperature and reaction time. Our results show that the obtained CdSe quantum dots have the average particle size of 1~10 nm within a size variation of 1.5 nm. The resultant CdSe QDs provide stable PL responses as excited by light sources of 388~550 nm wavelengths.