Why Do Firms Become Widely Held? An Analysis of the Dynamics of Corporate Ownership
分析1970至2001年间美国IPO公司内部人持股的演变，发现股票市场表现和流动性是决定企业是否变得股权分散的关键因素，而代理成本变量的解释力有限。
ABSTRACT We examine the evolution of insider ownership of IPO firms from 1970 to 2001 to understand how U.S. firms become widely held. A majority of these firms has insider ownership below 20% after 10 years. Stock market performance and liquidity play an extremely important role in ownership dynamics. Firms with stocks that are highly valued, are liquid, and have performed well experience large decreases in insider ownership and become widely held. Ownership also falls for low cash flow and high capital expenditures firms. Surprisingly, variables proxying for agency costs have limited success in explaining the evolution of insider ownership.