This paper analyses the effect of family ownership on the outcome of the firm’s risk‐taking activities, measured by the company’s default risk. We show that family ownership reduces the probability of default, which is proxied by the Black–Scholes–Merton (BSM) model. Our study goes further than the initial approach by taking into account certain factors conditioning the aforementioned relationship. We find that the expected negative relationship between family ownership and default risk is modified when there is a significant participation of institutional investors, whose positive moderating influence intensifies if they are stable and long‐term oriented and/or during adverse financial circumstances.

This paper analyzes the role of default risk in the momentum effect focusing on data from four developed European stock markets (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom). Using a market-based measure of default risk, we show that it is not the hidden factor behind this effect. While the loser portfolio is characterized by high default risk, small size, high book-to-market and illiquidity, characterization of the winner portfolio is somewhat more complex. Given that the momentum strategy is the return differential between the winners and the losers, factors such as the stock market cycle or the evolution of momentum portfolios against their reference point make momentum profits difficult to forecast.

We test for the existence of Favorite-Longshot Bias (FLB) in tennis betting exchanges. Despite these being order-driven markets, with no direct participation from bookmakers, we have found very similar results to those obtained by Lahvička (2014) for bookmakers' betting markets: the bias is stronger in matches between lower ranked players, in later round matches and in high profile tournaments. This suggests that bookmakers' adjustments to respond to informed betting are not the main driver of FLB. The varying magnitude of the bias across different types of event in the main market also weakens arguments linking FLB to gamblers' risk preferences, and suggests the need to consider the microstructure features of the market together with the cognitive biases highlighted in the behavioral finance literature.

We examine the role of the investor type in the fee structure of pension plans. Our examination uses a data set of employer-sponsored and individual private pension funds in Spain. We find different determinants of the fees between these two pension plans. We find evidence of market penetration strategies in individual plans but none in employer-sponsored plans. In these plans, the fees are negatively related to their financial groups' market share, whereas in individual plans this relation is negative for management fees but positive for custodian fees. Further, except in the case of custodian fees in individual plans, we find that all fees diminish when the custodian and management firms belong to different financial groups.

No abstract

This article presents evidence of the impact of overconfidence bias in asset prices drawn from a study based on data from tennis betting exchanges. A series of betting strategies in tournaments with a clear-cut favorite are shown to yield significant economic returns. The impact of overconfidence bias on betting odds increases with trading volume, media coverage, and levels of disagreement between overconfident and cumulative prospect theory bettors. Just as in traditional financial markets, arbitrage limits are shown to be a necessary condition for the impact of behavioral biases on prices.

This paper examines the impact of trading activity on the Favourite-Longshot Bias (FLB) in tennis Betting Exchanges, using direct measures such as betting volume, average bet and standard deviation of the odds. According to predictions based on Disagreement Models, odds mispricing is positively associated with trading volume but negatively associated with the presence of institutional bettors. The FLB is also positively related to the degree of uncertainty in the market. The existence of two simultaneous markets (a "main" and an "alternative" market) in this specific sportsbetting environment has enabled us to observe that the relative amount of attention given to the favourite versus that given to the long shot is positively associated with the FLB. Finally, information is more rapidly incorporated into the odds in the market that receives more attention from bettors, an effect that is intensified by the arbitrage and hedging that occurs between the two markets.

Equity funds, Managerial skills, Stochastic dominance, G23,