Seminar

The Impact of Going Public on the Firm’s Human Capital

Rui Silva (London School of Economics)

June 3, 2019, 12:30–14:00

Toulouse

Room MF 323

Finance Seminar

Abstract

We study the effect of initial public offerings (IPOs) on the human capital of firms. We document that going public has a significant impact on the employee composition of firms. Access to public equity markets increases the level of skill and professionalism of the workforce. Post-IPO, firms attract and retain more expensive and more skilled workers, and recruitment becomes less reliant on family connections. We obtain these results by employing stock market return variations during the book building period as an instrument for IPO completion.(work with Ramin P. Baghai- Stockholm School of Economics and CEPR)