Intangible assets are particularly critical for the 21st century firm. Building such assets requires substantial and sustained investment, which may not pay off until the very long-run. My work studies what drives companies to focus on the long-term rather than the short-term.

Theory

Determinants of long-run investment:

• • Blockholders (large shareholders) (Edmans JF 2009)
  • Capital structure (Edmans JFE 2011)
  • CEO contracts (Edmans, Gabaix, Sadzik, Sannikov JF 2012)
  • Disclosure policy (Edmans, Heinle, Huang RF 2016)

Empirics

Effect of short-term CEO contracts (Edmans, Fang, Lewellen RFS 2017)

Link between intangible investment and firm value

• • In the US (Edmans JFE 2011)
  • Globally (Edmans, Pu, Zhang, Li MS forthcoming)