The Stock Market and Investment Harvard

Description

This PDF has contents related to Stock Trading. In this paper, they try to address empirically the broader question of how the stock market affects investment. They identify four theories that explain the correlation between stock returns and subsequent investment. The first says that the stock market is a passive predictor of future activity that managers do not rely on to make investment decisions. The second theory says that, in making investment decisions, managers rely on the stock market as a source of information, which may or may not be correct about future fundamentals. The third theory, which is perhaps the most common view of the stock market’s influence, says that the stock market affects investment through its influence on the cost of funds and external financing. Finally, the fourth theory says that the stock market exerts pressure on investment quite aside from its informational and financing role, because managers have to cater to investors’ opinions in order to protect their livelihood.

Author(s): Randall Morck, University of Alberta, Andrei Shleifer, Harvard University, Robert W. Vishny, University of Chicago