Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology · Business, Management and Accounting
Professor Seung Hun Han's research lab specializes in corporate finance, corporate governance, and asset pricing, with a strong focus on the role of information asymmetry, corporate social responsibility, and institutional governance in financial markets. The lab investigates how credit ratings, earnings disclosures, stock repurchases, and ownership structures affect firm valuation and investor behavior, particularly in emerging and developed markets such as Korea and the U.S. Key themes include the impact of governance quality, religious and cultural factors on investment decisions, and the signaling effects of financial policies. The lab employs empirical and event-study methodologies to analyze market reactions and corporate behavior under asymmetric information and agency conflicts.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
Why do foreign firms obtain credit ratings by global rating agencies rather than from their home country's rating agencies even though global raters typically assign lower credit ratings when these foreign firms issue bonds in their home currencies? We find that bonds rated by a global agency decreased yields 11‐14 basis points (bps) when compared to those rated by Japanese rating agencies but, during the 2007‐2009 financial crisis, the yields on these Japanese bonds increased 12‐17 bps, thus fu
Abstract This study investigates whether a target firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance creates value for shareholders. Our results indicate that target CSR performance that is stronger than that of the acquirer firm yields higher premiums for target shareholders. In addition, the positive valuation effect of CSR is more pronounced when well‐governed acquirers conduct the takeover. Our evidence is robust to several sensitivity tests. These results imply that favorable market r
Abstract In this study, we investigate firms that the Korea Exchange claims have made unfaithful disclosures. We find that such firms experience significantly negative stock price returns, suggesting that their managements exploit the information asymmetry involved in unfaithful disclosures to expropriate shareholder wealth. Our evidence shows that firms with higher management ownership experience a smaller decline in stock returns following notices of unfaithfulness, implying that corporate gov
Abstract Manuscript Type Empirical Research Question/Issue We examine the relation between stock repurchases and their potential false signaling of undervaluation using unique K orean data. Research Findings/Insights We find that the firms that repurchase stocks frequently are less undervalued and have lower post‐announcement operating performance than firms that repurchase stocks infrequently. We further find that agency cost and industry‐adjusted T obin's Q of frequent repurchase firms negativ
Abstract This study examines effects of religion on US households' investment decisions, with focusing on the two channels; individual religious belief and local religious culture. We find that Protestants are less likely to invest in stocks than nonreligious households. Catholics are more likely to participate in stock markets than nonreligious households, which is largely driven by Catholic households' greater wealth and older age. Moreover, a higher local Catholic–Protestant ratio (CPratio) i
This study examines the effect of controlling shareholders’ preference on the payout policy of Korean firms. Using a sample of 9495 firm-year observations, we find that firms with individual controlling shareholders (family-owned firms) have a lower payout ratio than those with non-individual controlling shareholders. Further, firms with higher family-individual controlling shareholder ownership by individual controlling shareholders are reluctant to pay cash dividends in family business groups.
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