Markets

The giant China-based conglomerate Alibaba raised more than $13 billion in November in a stock offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. We asked Yale SOM’s Heather Tookes and Matthew Spiegel, who have studied the performance of companies after IPOs, what their research suggests about Alibaba’s prospects and its next steps.

Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, died on December 8 at age 92. Prof. Andrew Metrick reflects on Volcker’s contributions to the Fed and economic policy.

Markets could be a huge part of mitigating climate risk. A proposal from Yale finance faculty seeks to make that a reality.

Yale SOM’s Gary Gorton argues that financial crises happen because short-term lending, while essential to the economy, is also vulnerable to panic when parties lose confidence in each other. In a new paper, Gorton proposes a method of regulating short-term debt and preventing future crises. 

More and more of our economic and social lives are being conducted through digital channels. Economist Fiona Scott Morton talks about how effective antitrust regulation and enforcement can ensure that consumers benefit from the next killer app.

Most investing success is short lived, but venture capital is an exception, with top VCs beating the average year after year. A new study finds that consistent returns owe as much to a firm’s reputation and early luck as the smarts of its employees.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld writes that WeWork founder Adam Neumann’s sale of $700 million of his ownership indicates a lack of faith in his own company as it heads toward an IPO.

Instead, argues Yale SOM’s Fiona Scott Morton, the government should exercise its regulatory powers to promote competition.

According to Yale SOM’s Matthew Spiegel and Heather Tookes, an IPO is often followed by disappointing returns, not just for the newly public company but its entire industry.