Underpricing and Overachievement: Celebrating Jay Ritter's IPO Research

Abstract

ABSTRACT This tribute celebrates Jay Ritter's scholarship on the occasion of his election as Fellow of the American Finance Association. Best known for documenting and IPO underpricing, hot issue markets, and the long‐run underperformance of new issues, Jay has shaped how academics, practitioners and regulators understand the going‐public process, from the conflicts of interest surrounding IPO allocations to the decline of small‐company listings and the rise of SPACs. His contributions extend to behavioural finance, corporate capital structure and the relationship between economic growth and equity returns. His work is marked by attention to how markets are institutionally organized as well as by a comparative eye across countries that has made him a steady presence in European finance, not least through his service as Associate Editor of European Financial Management since 2008 and the two articles of his that have appeared in this journal.