Legal perception and finance: when the perception matters more than the actual law

How people perceive the quality of the law can affect companies in many ways. Gerhard Schnyder, Anna Grosman, Kun Fu, Mathias Siems, and Ruth V. Aguilera explore the underdeveloped role of legal perceptions in initial public offerings (IPOs), when companies list their shares in a stock exchange. They find that what drives IPO valuation is how shareholder protection laws are perceived, rather than the actual quality of the legal protection.