Litigation Risk, Intermediation, and the Underpricing of Initial Public Offerings
正式考察诉讼风险在IPO定价中的作用，分析承销商如何在当前收入与预期诉讼成本之间权衡，并探讨发行人选择承销商或自行上市的条件，为IPO抑价提供新的理论解释。
We formally examine the role of litigation risk in initial public offering (IPO) pricing. The underwriter's pricing decision trades off current revenue against expected future litigation costs, both of which are increasing in the IPO price. Given a time-consistency constraint and rational expectations on the part of investors, however, the "standard" litigation risk argument does not lead to equilibrium underpricing. We develop a richer model that provides sufficient conditions under which there is equilibrium underpricing. The issuer's choice of employing an underwriter versus floating the IPO on its own is examined, and various testable implications of the model are developed.