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Why Do Short Selling Bans Increase Adverse Selection and Decrease Price Efficiency?
[The market for ‘lemons’: Quality uncertainty and the market mechanism]

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  • Peter N Dixon

Abstract

When short selling is costly, owners of an asset have greater incentive to become informed than nonowners because trading on negative information is easier for them. Thus, information acquisition concentrates among investors owning the asset. A short selling ban restricts selling to only the relatively more informed investors who own the asset, increasing adverse selection but only on the sell side of the market. Price efficiency declines due to less overall information acquisition because a ban magnifies the disincentive to gather information for investors not owning the asset. Empirical evidence from the 2008 U.S. short selling ban is consistent with these theoretical predictions.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter N Dixon, 2021. "Why Do Short Selling Bans Increase Adverse Selection and Decrease Price Efficiency? [The market for ‘lemons’: Quality uncertainty and the market mechanism]," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(1), pages 122-168.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rasset:v:11:y:2021:i:1:p:122-168.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Dixon, Peter N. & Fox, Corbin A. & Kelley, Eric K., 2021. "To own or not to own: Stock loans around dividend payments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 539-559.
    3. Jiang, George J. & Shimizu, Yoshiki & Strong, Cuyler, 2022. "Back to the futures: When short selling is banned," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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