Financial markets

Research reveals how activist investors help and hurt.

Investors should provide money, information, and discipline. They often fall short.

The story of a royal trading company comes to life on an 18th-century stock certificate.

Lessons from Switzerland's electricity network.

A three-step proposal for U.S. regulators.

They don’t use the financial tools they learned in B-school.

Research shows it’s analysts, not executives, who are leading the way.

By instigating the dot-com crash, the capital markets have placed the entire new economy at risk.

It depends on the investor.

Are financial markets driven by efficiency or by irrational behavior? The "adaptive markets hypothesis" brings Darwinian principles into the mix, suggesting...

The economy needs careful decision-makers as well as risk-takers.

It could reduce friction and costs.

Most entrepreneurs understand that if the fundamentals of a business idea—the management team, the market opportunities, the operating systems and controls—are sound, chances are there’s money out there. The challenge of landing that capital to grow a company can be exhilarating. But as exciting as the money search may be, it is equally threatening. Built […]

Mitigate, don’t litigate.

An analysis of resolutions filed by activist investors.

Despite underwhelming returns, investors keep giving them money.

Why Wall Street is wrong to worry about the impact on earnings per share.

But competition and monitoring can spur them to act.

The European Central Bank isn’t ready for the next one.

Marketers like to work on the demand side—take what’s in demand, make it cheaper, run a lot of ads, make a profit. If you can increase demand for what you already make, a lot of problems take care of themselves. It’s the promise of the typical marketing organization: Give us money, and we’ll increase demand. […]