The World of Cross-Listings and Cross-Listings of the World: Challenging Conventional Wisdom

Abstract

There has long prevailed a conventional wisdom rationalizing why firms pursue overseas listings. It argues that firms seek such opportunities to benefit from a lower cost of capital that arises because their shares become more accessible to global investors. Much recent evidence challenges this conventional wisdom. In fact, several new research initiatives have been proposed that factor into the overseas listing decision many more complex risks that globalization can create at the firm level, such as agency conflicts, transparency and disclosure concerns, and other corporate governance problems. The goal of this article is to survey, synthesize and critically review this new literature and to identify yet unresolved questions to answer.