Incentive-compatible contracts in merger negotiations:The role of acquirer idiosyncratic stock return volatility

We show that the acquiring firm's idiosyncratic stock return volatility (sigma) is an important determinant of the selection and perceived valuation effects of earnouts in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As). Earnout‐based M&As are more often announced by high‐sigma acquirers (nearly 40% of all earnout‐based M&As), yet the documented higher risk‐adjusted returns accrued to acquirers in earnout‐based M&As, relative to M&As settled in cash, stock or mixed payments (the earnout effect), appear in deals announced by low‐sigma acquirers (nearly 20% of all earnout‐based M&As). High‐sigma acquirers employing earnouts appear to break even, or even experience losses, relative to their counterparts employing single up‐front payments. These results are confirmed based on a quasi‐experimental design through which the earnout effect is measured in isolation. We argue that in M&As announced by high‐sigma acquirers, the earnout effect is potentially elusive due to the presence of an acquirer‐specific information revelation effect, resulting from the heightened extent of information asymmetry between (small) acquirers’ managers and outside investors. On the contrary, the use of earnouts in M&As announced by low‐sigma (large) acquirers, whereby the acquirer‐specific information revelation effect is likely negligible, sends a strong signal for value creation that also prevents investors from inducing a size‐related discount

Reconstructing the neolithic landscape of Thessaly through a GIS and geological approach

Neolithic Thessaly has been traditionally studied to understand human partitioning and territoriality of the landscape by non-hierarchical human groups. Thessaly is a region of low relief with extensive coastline and a great alluvial plain, where hundreds of Neolithic settlements/tells called magoules were established from the Early Neolithic period until the Bronze Age. Archaeological data was collected forming a corpus of surveyed and excavated sites and settlements, differentiated by type, size or time-scale of occupation. Reconstruction of the Neolithic landscape was based on synthesis of geological maps, records of stratigraphic data collected from a total of 400 boreholes and the indexing of past studies relative to the geomorphological changes that have affected Neolithic Thessaly from Holocene until today. These were spatially and statistically processed to estimate the amount of alluvial deposits and their distribution on the Thessalian plain from the Early Neolithic period to the present

The role of earnout financing on the valuation effects of global diversification

This article examines the impact of earnout financing on the value of acquiring firms engaged in cross-border acquisitions (CBAs), using a dataset of UK, US, Canadian and Australian firms from 1992 to 2012. The results show that firms initiating international business operations via earnout-financed CBAs enhance their value more than acquirers in (a) domestic acquisitions and (b) remaining CBAs by established multinational corporations (MNCs). Our findings demonstrate the superiority of earnout financing in CBAs announced by acquirers that have no prior international business experience. The results are robust to the firms’ endogenous choice to diversify globally and to the use of earnout financing. We contend that earnouts contribute to the reduction of valuation risk faced by firms acquiring a foreign target firm for the first time. Our empirical findings contribute to the existing debate on the merit of international expansion through CBAs and the role of earnout contingent payment

Experimentalism, Values and Democracy in John Dewey’s Work

This thesis concentrates on the relation between science and democracy in John Dewey’s work, who is one of the most important figures of American pragmatism. It perceives Dewey’s experimentalism as a philosophy of praxis which is based upon the experimental method of modern physical sciences and it examines the connection of experimental functionalism with Dewey’s radical theory of democracy and its democratic values. The thesis poses the question about the possibility of scientific objectivism of pragmatism to direct the democratic transformation of society and to justify the democratic ideal against other ways of social order. In this direction, the thesis systematically analyses on the one hand the problem of justification of democratic values and democratic ideal and on the other hand the different strategies by which Dewey attempted to solve it. As a result, democratic values and their justification are proved to be the most crucial issue of Dewey’s philosophical thought. Moreover, this issue brings to light both the weaknesses and the critical power of experimentalism. The thesis supports that in Dewey’s work there is an unsolvable tension between the functional character of experimental method and the democratic values. Due to Dewey’s failure to generate certain values from the pragmatist epistemology his attempt to formulate a philosophy of praxis based on experimental method of physical science is problematic. Therefore, there is unavoidably an irrational element in Dewey’s theory of democracy.Η παρούσα διατριβή επικεντρώνεται στην σχέση της επιστήμης με τη δημοκρατία στο έργο ενός από τους σημαντικότερους εκπροσώπους του αμερικάνικου πραγματισμού∙ του John Dewey. Εκλαμβάνοντας τον πειραματισμό του Dewey ως μια φιλοσοφία της πράξης, η οποία βασίζεται στην πειραματική μέθοδο των σύγχρονων φυσικών επιστημών εξετάζει τη σύνδεση του λειτουργικού χαρακτήρα του πειραματισμού με τη ριζοσπαστική θεωρία του Dewey για τη δημοκρατία και το συγκεκριμένο αξιακό περιεχόμενο που προσδίδει σε αυτήν. Τίθεται το ερώτημα για το κατά πόσο ο επιστημονικός αντικειμενισμός του πραγματισμού μπορεί να μας καθοδηγήσει στον δημοκρατικό μετασχηματισμό της κοινωνίας και να δικαιολογήσει το δημοκρατικό ιδεώδες έναντι άλλων μορφών κοινωνικής οργάνωσης. Κινούμενη προς σε αυτήν την κατεύθυνση η εργασία αναλύει συστηματικά τόσο το πρόβλημα της δικαιολόγησης των δημοκρατικών αξιών και του δημοκρατικού ιδεώδους όσο και τις διαφορετικές στρατηγικές με τις οποίες ο Dewey προσπάθησε να το επιλύσει. Έτσι, οι δημοκρατικές αξίες και η δικαιολόγησή τους αναδεικνύεται σε κομβικό ζήτημα της ντιουιανής σκέψης, το οποίο διαπερνάει κάθετα το θεωρητικό έργο του Dewey. Αποτελεί, επίσης, εκείνο το στοιχείο που αποκαλύπτει τόσο τα αδιέξοδα όσο και το κριτικό δυναμικό του πειραματισμού.Η εργασία υποστηρίζει πως το σύνολο του έργου του Dewey διέπεται από μία ανεπίλυτη ένταση μεταξύ του λειτουργικού χαρακτήρα της πειραματικής μεθόδου και των δημοκρατικών αξιών. Η αδυναμία του Dewey να μεταβεί ικανοποιητικά από την πραγματιστική γνωσιοθεωρία στο πεδίο των αξιών αφήνει, εν τέλει, μετέωρο το εγχείρημα της συγκρότησης μιας φιλοσοφίας της πράξης, η οποία βασίζεται στην πειραματική μέθοδο των φυσικών επιστημών. Το αποτέλεσμα είναι να υπάρχει αναπόδραστα ένα ανορθολογικό υπόλοιπο στην ντιουιανή θεωρία περί δημοκρατίας

From dotcom to Covid-19: A convergence analysis of Islamic investments

This paper goes beyond the extant comparisons of Islamic and conventional investments by econometrically assessing their convergence dynamics, in a dataset spanning over 1996-2020, covering ten business sectors and five episodes of crisis. We use a dynamic multivariate framework to estimate time-varying correlations, which we submit to beta and sigma-convergence analysis. Subsequently we examine how convergence dynamics affect portfolio risk management and crisis propagation. Our results show strong convergence of Islamic and conventional investments. During crises conventional convergence rates double, but Islamic ones are less affected. Sectoral diversification works best for conventional investments; Islamic ones behave as a single entity. On average we document a 7% risk diversification benefit from Islamic investments, at a 64 basis points cost. Yet, at the epicentre of the Covid-19 financial crisis this rises to 466 basis points and highlights the resilience of these investments in an exogenous event. Islamic investments reduce volatility spillovers in the financial system, but they are progressively less insulated across time. Our findings withstand a battery of robustness checks and are primarily useful to policy makers and investors