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The wisdom of crowds and the market's response to earnings news: Evidence using the geographic dispersion of investors

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  • Chen, Jason V.

Abstract

The wisdom of crowds suggests that groups with more diversely informed individuals reach more informed decisions because their members are collectively more knowledgeable. I study this idea in the context of the market's response to earnings announcements by examining how information diversity across investors affects the efficiency of the price response to earnings news. I measure investors' information diversity based on their geographic dispersion, which I estimate using the locations of the requests for firms' filings to EDGAR. Greater geographic dispersion is associated with greater trading during the announcement period; this supports the use of geographic dispersion as a measure of information diversity. Consistent with my predictions, the price response to a firm's earnings news is more efficient when the firm's investors have greater information diversity. In further analysis, I find that the initial heightened trading for firms with more diversely informed investors subsides quickly after the announcement period.

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  • Chen, Jason V., 2023. "The wisdom of crowds and the market's response to earnings news: Evidence using the geographic dispersion of investors," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:75:y:2023:i:2:s0165410122000908
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2022.101567
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Information diversity; Geography; Earnings announcements; EDGAR;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

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