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Using the universe of Business Development Companies for the period 2006-17, we analyze the effects of fund management structure on managerial decisions and fund premiums. We show that externally managed funds trade at significantly higher discounts relative to their internally managed counterparts and they are 74% (67%) less likely to announce (execute) value enhancing share repurchase programs. We further find a significantly higher positive market reaction to share repurchase announcements of externally relative to internally managed funds. Overall, we show the benefits of internal management structure in avoiding agency costs associated with the dependence of managerial compensation on total assets.

Using the universe of Business Development Companies (BDCs), a unique publicly traded segment of U.S. Private Equity (PE), for the period 1998-2017 we provide the first in depth examination of their performance and risk adjusted characteristics and compare our results to contrasting evidence derived from recently developed time series proxies for unlisted PE returns. BDCs exhibit zero alpha, beta of one and significant exposure to SMB, HML, and CMA factors of 0.5, 0.7, and -0.3, respectively. BDC performance and market beta are sensitive to fund size and leverage. We provide evidence that BDC returns capture both the asset selection and PE ownership elements of the unlisted PE investment strategy. Finally, an event study analysis shows that NAV disclosures become informative only after the adoption of the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 157 (SFAS 157). We posit that BDCs provide a readily available market-based PE benchmark for use by regulators, market participants, and academics.

Using a sample of equity closed-end funds, we document significant portfolio holdings disclosure valuation effects and strategic disclosure timing by portfolio managers. An event study analysis reveals statistically significant positive (negative) abnormal returns associated with early (late) disclosure. We find that the returns of a long-short arbitrage strategy portfolio become statistically significant exactly when the implementation of such a strategy is facilitated by the timely disclosure of portfolio holdings. Our findings support the argument that managers of funds trading at high discounts are more likely to disclose earlier in order to reduce discounts and protect themselves from activist investor attacks. This is despite the documented strong motives for late disclosure stemming from copycatting and front running threats shared with open-end fund managers.

Education is widely recognized as one of the most important determinants of earnings in the labour market. A main aspect of the relationship between education and earnings is the wage premium between workers with higher and lower education. The findings of previous studies show that changes in the relative supply of high skilled to low skilled workers are negatively related with the wage premiums. Increases in relative demand, on the other hand, are found to have a positive impact. In this study I analyze the evolution of wage premiums of attaining further education in the Republic of Cyprus. The results indicate a fall, on average, in the wage premiums of the first period (1991-1996) and a rise in the second (1996-2003). Several plausible explanations are given for these changes using the findings, the existing literature and important historical facts.