Publications

January – February 2011
Article

Benchmarks as Limits to Arbitrage: Understanding the Low-Volatility Anomaly

By: Malcolm Baker, Brendan Bradley and Jeffrey Wurgler

Contrary to basic finance principles, high-beta and high-volatility stocks have long underperformed low-beta and low-volatility stocks. This anomaly may be partly explained by the fact that the typical institutional investor's mandate to beat a fixed benchmark... View Details

Keywords: Volatility; Stocks; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management; Performance Expectations

June 2004
Article

Market Liquidity as a Sentiment Indicator

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeremy Stein

We build a model that helps to explain why increases in liquidity-such as lower bid-ask spreads, a lower price impact of trade, or higher turnover-predict lower subsequent returns in both firm-level and aggregate data. The model features a class of irrational... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Financial Liquidity; Price; Trade; Sales; Equity; Information; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Accounting Industry

2002
Other Unpublished Work

Market Liquidity as a Sentiment Indicator

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeremy Stein

We build a model that helps to explain why increases in liquidity—such as lower bid–ask spreads, a lower price impact of trade, or higher turnover—predict lower subsequent returns in both firm-level and aggregate data. The model features a class of irrational... View Details

Keywords: Price; Financial Liquidity; Trade; Valuation; Markets; Forecasting and Prediction; Equity; Stock Shares; Investment Return

05 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 5, 2010

accounting "reliability." Broadly, the evidence, by highlighting the influence of standard setters, can broaden our understanding of the political economy of standard setting beyond the role of corporate lobbying. Download the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2015 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Corning, 2002

By: Malcolm Baker

Corning, with large investments in fiber optic technology, was hit particularly hard by the collapse of the telecommunications industry in 2001. With over $4 billion in debt, the firm's survival appears to rest on raising additional equity capital. James Flaws, the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Financial Condition; Financial Instruments; Valuation; Capital; Public Equity; Stock Shares; Business or Company Management; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

Educators

December 2005 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Corning, 2002

By: Malcolm P. Baker and James Quinn

Corning, with large investments in fiber optic technology, was hit particularly hard by the collapse of the telecommunications industry in 2001. With over $4 billion in debt, the firm's survival appears to rest on raising additional equity capital. The protagonist is... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Financial Condition; Financial Instruments; Valuation; Capital; Public Equity; Stock Shares; Business or Company Management; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

Educators

Purchase

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

emphasize users over producers. Large parts of the knowledge economy now routinely rely on users, communities, and open innovation approaches to solve important technological and organizational problems. This view of innovation, pioneered View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

2022 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

Professor Laura Alfaro + More Info – Less Info Fueled by a series of recent political events and actors, anti-globalization has been growing. From the rise of political platforms pinning blame on openness to imports and immigration to the... View Details

Profile

Melcolm Ruffin

mind." At the NBA, Melcolm was influenced by two more Black HBS alumni, Malcolm Turner and Mark Tatum. Together with Malcolm, Melcolm worked on the NBA's innovative sponsorship agreement with Gatorade... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment/Media

01 Sep 2017
News

Turning Point: Getting to Giving

classes I teach at our church. Now I talk to people about money all the time. At HBS, Professor Malcolm Salter gave us this advice in our last class together: “Live beneath your means.” At the time it struck... View Details

Keywords: Amalya “Ami” Campbell (MBA 1997); Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance

01 Jun 2004
News

Stevenson Accepts Key University Position

one of my great joys has been engaging alumni and friends of HBS. Having the opportunity to involve alumni in all facets of the University will surely be one of the best parts of this new assignment.” HBS professor Malcolm S. View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

27 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 27, 2009

Working PapersWhen Does Domestic Saving Matter for Economic Growth? Authors:Philippe Aghion, Diego Comin, Peter Howitt, and Isabel Tecu Abstract Can a country grow faster by saving more? We address this question both theoretically and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2006
Article

Predicting Returns with Managerial Decision Variables: Is There a Small-Sample Bias?

By: Malcolm Baker, Ryan Taliaferro and Jeffrey Wurgler

Many studies find that aggregate managerial decision variables, such as aggregate equity issuance, predict stock or bond market returns. Recent research argues that these findings may be driven by an aggregate time-series version of Schultz's (2003, Journal of Finance... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Fairness; Managerial Roles; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Equity; Bonds; Financial Markets; Investment; Capital Markets; Borrowing and Debt; Investment Return

Article

Capital Market-Driven Corporate Finance

By: Malcolm Baker

Much of empirical corporate finance focuses on sources of the demand for various forms of capital, not the supply. Recently, this has changed. Supply effects of equity and credit markets can arise from a combination of three ingredients: investor tastes, limited... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Finance; Limits To Arbitrage; Market Efficiency; Securities Issuance; Supply Effects; Corporate Finance; Investment; Price; Capital Markets; Equity; Financial Services Industry

March 2016
Article

Dividends as Reference Points: A Behavioral Signaling Approach

By: Malcolm Baker, Brock Mendel and Jeffrey Wurgler

We outline a dividend signaling model that features investors who are averse to dividend cuts. Managers with strong unobservable cash earnings separate by paying high dividends but retain enough to be likely not to fall short next period. The model is consistent with a... View Details

Keywords: Investment

June 2012
Article

Comovement and Predictability Relationships Between Bonds and the Cross-Section of Stocks

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

Government bonds comove more strongly with bond-like stocks: stocks of large, mature, low-volatility, profitable, dividend-paying firms that are neither high growth nor distressed. Variables derived from the yield curve that are already known to predict returns on... View Details

Keywords: Relationships; Bonds; Stocks; Investment Return; Cash Flow; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Forecasting and Prediction; Profit