IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v58y2012i2p394-412.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Transaction-Level Analysis of Spatial Arbitrage: The Role of Habit, Attention, and Electronic Trading

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Overby

    (College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30308)

  • Jonathan Clarke

    (College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30308)

Abstract

Despite the central role of arbitrage in finance and economic theory, there is limited evidence of the factors that create and eliminate arbitrage opportunities, how often arbitrage occurs, and how profitable it is. We address these gaps via a transaction-level analysis of spatial arbitrage in the wholesale automotive market. We investigate why arbitrage opportunities are created by analyzing how sellers choose where to sell vehicles. We find that the attention sellers pay to the distribution of a vehicle is negatively related to the probability that it is arbitraged. Arbitrage occurs in approximately 1% of transactions, although electronic trading is making arbitrage less prevalent by improving buyer/seller matching across locations. Arbitrage yields a 5.6% return on average, although arbitrageurs take a loss 14% of the time. Our results contribute to the literature on arbitrage, the effect of attention allocation on market outcomes, and the effect of information technology on market efficiency. This paper was accepted by Brad Barber, Teck Ho, and Terrance Odean, special issue editors.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Overby & Jonathan Clarke, 2012. "A Transaction-Level Analysis of Spatial Arbitrage: The Role of Habit, Attention, and Electronic Trading," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(2), pages 394-412, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:58:y:2012:i:2:p:394-412
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1110.1494
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1110.1494
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.1110.1494?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Mitchell & Todd Pulvino, 2001. "Characteristics of Risk and Return in Risk Arbitrage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(6), pages 2135-2175, December.
    2. Pasquale Schiraldi, 2011. "Automobile replacement: a dynamic structural approach," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 42(2), pages 266-291, June.
    3. Eric Overby & Chris Forman, 2011. "The Effect of Electronic Commerce on Geographic Trade and Price Variance in a Business-to-Business Market," Working Papers 11-30, NET Institute.
    4. B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), 2001. "Handbook of Agricultural Economics," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 2.
    5. Martin Ravallion, 1986. "Testing Market Integration," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 68(1), pages 102-109.
    6. Jeffrey R. Brown & Austan Goolsbee, 2002. "Does the Internet Make Markets More Competitive? Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 110(3), pages 481-507, June.
    7. Bob Baulch, 1997. "Transfer Costs, Spatial Arbitrage, and Testing for Food Market Integration," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 79(2), pages 477-487.
    8. Lasse Heje Pedersen & Mark Mitchell & Todd Pulvino, 2007. "Slow Moving Capital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(2), pages 215-220, May.
    9. Fackler, Paul L. & Goodwin, Barry K., 2001. "Spatial price analysis," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 17, pages 971-1024, Elsevier.
    10. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2008. "All That Glitters: The Effect of Attention and News on the Buying Behavior of Individual and Institutional Investors," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 785-818, April.
    11. B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), 2001. "Handbook of Agricultural Economics," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    12. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "The Limits of Arbitrage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 35-55, March.
    13. Andrew Coleman, 2009. "Storage, Slow Transport, and the Law of One Price: Theory with Evidence from Nineteenth-Century U.S. Corn Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 332-350, May.
    14. Herbert A. Simon, 1955. "A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 69(1), pages 99-118.
    15. Peng, Lin & Xiong, Wei, 2006. "Investor attention, overconfidence and category learning," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 563-602, June.
    16. Paul Klemperer, 1987. "Markets with Consumer Switching Costs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(2), pages 375-394.
    17. Samuelson, William & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1988. "Status Quo Bias in Decision Making," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 7-59, March.
    18. Jeffrey Pontiff, 1996. "Costly Arbitrage: Evidence from Closed-End Funds," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(4), pages 1135-1151.
    19. Shane A. Corwin & Jay F. Coughenour, 2008. "Limited Attention and the Allocation of Effort in Securities Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 3031-3067, December.
    20. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    21. Robert Jensen, 2007. "The Digital Provide: Information (Technology), Market Performance, and Welfare in the South Indian Fisheries Sector," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 879-924.
    22. Klemperer, Paul D, 1987. "Entry Deterrence in Markets with Consumer Switching Costs," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 97(388a), pages 99-117, Supplemen.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hemang Subramanian & Eric Overby, 2017. "Electronic Commerce, Spatial Arbitrage, and Market Efficiency," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 97-116, March.
    2. Eric Overby & Chris Forman, 2015. "The Effect of Electronic Commerce on Geographic Purchasing Patterns and Price Dispersion," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(2), pages 431-453, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Isaac Abunyuwah & Henry De-Graft Acquah, 2013. "Modelling non-linear Spatial Market Integration and Equilibrium Processes in Hidden Markov Framework," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 5(8), pages 535-545.
    2. Hemang Subramanian & Eric Overby, 2017. "Electronic Commerce, Spatial Arbitrage, and Market Efficiency," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 97-116, March.
    3. Sekhar, C.S.C., 2012. "Agricultural market integration in India: An analysis of select commodities," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 309-322.
    4. Van Campenhout, Bjorn, 2007. "Modelling trends in food market integration: Method and an application to Tanzanian maize markets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 112-127, February.
    5. Ebata, Ayako & Velasco, Pamela & von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan, 2015. "Distance to market and farm-gate prices of staple beans in rural Nicaragua," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 197540, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    6. Rezitis, Anthony N. & Pachis, Dimitris N., 2013. "Investigating the Price Transmission Mechanism of the Greek Fresh Tomato Market with a Markov Switching Vector Error Correction model," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 14(2), pages 1-17.
    7. Brosig, Stephan & Yakhshilikov, Yorbol, 2005. "Interregional Integration Of Wheat Markets In Kazakhstan," IAMO Discussion Papers 14921, Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    8. Frank Davenport & Chris Funk, 2015. "Using time series structural characteristics to analyze grain prices in food insecure countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 7(5), pages 1055-1070, October.
    9. David Hirshleife, 2015. "Behavioral Finance," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 133-159, December.
    10. Svanidze, Miranda & Götz, Linde, 2019. "Determinants of spatial market efficiency of grain markets in Russia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    11. Mitchell, Mark & Pulvino, Todd, 2012. "Arbitrage crashes and the speed of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 469-490.
    12. Stephens, Emma C. & Mabaya, Edward T., 2008. "Spatial Price Adjustment with and without Trade," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6538, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Sumit Saurav & Sobhesh Kumar Agarwalla & Jayanth R. Varma, 2024. "Role of derivatives market in attenuating underreaction to left‐tail risk," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 484-517, March.
    14. Kouyate, Carolin & von Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan & Fofana, Ismael, 2016. "Proximity and price co-movement in West African rice markets," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 11(3).
    15. Thomas J. Chemmanur & An Yan, 2019. "Advertising, Attention, and Stock Returns," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 9(03), pages 1-51, September.
    16. Andrew Coleman, 2007. "A model of spatial arbitrage with transport capacity constraints and endogenous transport prices," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series DP2007/05, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    17. Brian Dillon & Chelsey Dambro, 2017. "How Competitive Are Crop Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1344-1361.
    18. Van Campenhout, Bjorn, 2012. "Market Integration in Mozambique:: A Non-Parametric Extension to the Threshold Model," MSSP working papers 4, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Yu, Miao & Hu, Xiaolu & Zhong, Angel, 2023. "Trade links and return predictability: The Australian evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    20. Andrew Coleman, 2007. "The pitfalls of estimating transactions costs from price data: evidence from trans-Atlantic gold-point arbitrage, 1886-1905," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series DP2007/07, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:58:y:2012:i:2:p:394-412. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.