Competition for Flow and Short-Termism in Activism

Mike Burkart and Amil Dasgupta

The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, 2021, vol. 10, issue 1, 44-81

Abstract: We develop a dual-layered agency model to study blockholder monitoring by activist funds competing for investor flow. Competition for flow affects the manner in which activist funds govern as blockholders. In particular, funds inflate their short-term performance by increasing payouts that are financed by higher (net) leverage. Doing so subsequently discourages value-creating interventions during economic downturns because of debt overhang. Our theory suggests a new channel via which asset manager incentives may foster economic fragility and links together the observed procyclicality of activist investments with the documented effect of such funds on the leverage of their target companies. (JEL G34, G23)Received July 2, 2020; editorial decision August 8, 2020; Editor Uday Rajan.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:rcorpf:v:10:y:2021:i:1:p:44-81.

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