IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reaccs/v28y2023i1d10.1007_s11142-021-09641-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The disclosure function of the U.S. patent system: evidence from the PTDL program and extreme snowfall

Author

Listed:
  • Tim Martens

    (Bocconi University)

Abstract

Are retail investors using uncurated disclosures in form of patents for their investment decisions? This study uses the investment decisions of retail investors and variation in the local availability of patent information to answer this question. The variation comes from changes in the locations of U.S. Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries over time. I find a strong increase in the local trading volume of stocks after the release of a patent in counties that have easier access to patent information. In addition, trades made by retail investors with easier access to this information yield higher returns, compared to trades made by other investors. These results indicate that disclosures of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office facilitate the dissemination of patent information to retail investors. Furthermore, these results suggest that retail investors complement traditional curated disclosures with uncurated disclosures in form of patents.

Suggested Citation

  • Tim Martens, 2023. "The disclosure function of the U.S. patent system: evidence from the PTDL program and extreme snowfall," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 237-264, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reaccs:v:28:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11142-021-09641-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s11142-021-09641-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11142-021-09641-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11142-021-09641-5?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zoran Ivković & Scott Weisbenner, 2005. "Local Does as Local Is: Information Content of the Geography of Individual Investors' Common Stock Investments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 267-306, February.
    2. Hochberg, Yael V. & Serrano, Carlos J. & Ziedonis, Rosemarie H., 2018. "Patent collateral, investor commitment, and the market for venture lending," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 74-94.
    3. Leonid Kogan & Dimitris Papanikolaou & Amit Seru & Noah Stoffman, 2017. "Technological Innovation, Resource Allocation, and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 665-712.
    4. Bronwyn H. Hall & Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 2001. "The NBER Patent Citation Data File: Lessons, Insights and Methodological Tools," NBER Working Papers 8498, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Stephen Glaeser & Jeremy Michels & Robert E. Verrecchia, 2020. "Discretionary disclosure and manager horizon: evidence from patenting," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 597-635, June.
    6. Zoran Ivkovi & Scott Weisbenner, 2007. "Information Diffusion Effects in Individual Investors' Common Stock Purchases: Covet Thy Neighbors' Investment Choices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(4), pages 1327-1357.
    7. Glaeser, Stephen, 2018. "The effects of proprietary information on corporate disclosure and transparency: Evidence from trade secrets," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 163-193.
    8. Shane A. Corwin & Paul Schultz, 2012. "A Simple Way to Estimate Bid‐Ask Spreads from Daily High and Low Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(2), pages 719-760, April.
    9. Elizabeth Blankespoor & Ed Dehaan & John Wertz & Christina Zhu, 2019. "Why Do Individual Investors Disregard Accounting Information? The Roles of Information Awareness and Acquisition Costs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 53-84, March.
    10. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    11. Mann, William, 2018. "Creditor rights and innovation: Evidence from patent collateral," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 25-47.
    12. Hirshleifer, David & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Li, Dongmei, 2013. "Innovative efficiency and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(3), pages 632-654.
    13. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    14. Sharon Belenzon & Mark Schankerman, 2013. "Spreading the Word: Geography, Policy, and Knowledge Spillovers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 884-903, July.
    15. Ajay Agrawal & Alberto Galasso & Alexander Oettl, 2017. "Roads and Innovation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 99(3), pages 417-434, July.
    16. Merton, Robert C, 1987. "A Simple Model of Capital Market Equilibrium with Incomplete Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 483-510, July.
    17. Bhushan, Ravi, 1989. "Collection of information about publicly traded firms : Theory and evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(2-3), pages 183-206, July.
    18. Hirschey, Mark & Richardson, Vernon J., 2004. "Are scientific indicators of patent quality useful to investors?," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 91-107, January.
    19. Bushee, BJ & Noe, CF, 2000. "Corporate disclosure practices, institutional investors, and stock return volatility," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38, pages 171-202.
    20. David Hirshleifer & Po-Hsuan Hsu & Dongmei Li, 2018. "Innovative Originality, Profitability, and Stock Returns," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(7), pages 2553-2605.
    21. Shores, D, 1990. "The Association Between Interim Information And Security Returns Surrounding Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 164-181.
    22. Mark S. Seasholes & Ning Zhu, 2010. "Individual Investors and Local Bias," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1987-2010, October.
    23. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2000. "Trading Is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 773-806, April.
    24. Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2003. "Limited attention, information disclosure, and financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 337-386, December.
    25. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    26. Shiller, 021Robert J. & Pound, John, 1989. "Survey evidence on diffusion of interest and information among investors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 47-66, August.
    27. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2001. "Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 261-292.
    28. 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.
    29. Christensen, Hans B. & Floyd, Eric & Liu, Lisa Yao & Maffett, Mark, 2017. "The real effects of mandated information on social responsibility in financial reports: Evidence from mine-safety records," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 284-304.
    30. Joseph E. Engelberg & Christopher A. Parsons, 2011. "The Causal Impact of Media in Financial Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 67-97, February.
    31. Tim Martens & Christoph J. Sextroh, 2021. "Analyst Coverage Overlaps and Interfirm Information Spillovers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 1425-1480, September.
    32. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2002. "Online Investors: Do the Slow Die First?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 455-488, March.
    33. Gur Huberman & Tomer Regev, 2001. "Contagious Speculation and a Cure for Cancer: A Nonevent that Made Stock Prices Soar," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 387-396, February.
    34. Kimball L. Chapman & Nayana Reiter & Hal D. White & Christopher D. Williams, 2019. "Information overload and disclosure smoothing," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1486-1522, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    2. Lee, Charles M.C. & Sun, Stephen Teng & Wang, Rongfei & Zhang, Ran, 2019. "Technological links and predictable returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(3), pages 76-96.
    3. Xiaoran Huang & Zheng Qiao & Lei Zhang, 2021. "The real effects of institutional spatial concentration," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(4), pages 1113-1167, December.
    4. Ludvig Bohlin & Martin Rosvall, 2014. "Stock Portfolio Structure of Individual Investors Infers Future Trading Behavior," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-8, July.
    5. Stoffman, Noah & Woeppel, Michael & Yavuz, M. Deniz, 2022. "Small innovators: No risk, No return," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1).
    6. Bailey, Warren & Kumar, Alok & Ng, David, 2010. "Behavioral Biases of Mutual Fund Investors," Working Papers 10-23, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Weiss Center.
    7. Guiso, Luigi & Sodini, Paolo, 2013. "Household Finance: An Emerging Field," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1397-1532, Elsevier.
    8. Lawrence, Alastair, 2013. "Individual investors and financial disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 130-147.
    9. Cai, Haidong & Jiang, Ying & Liu, Xiaoquan, 2022. "Investor attention, aggregate limit-hits, and stock returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    10. Meyer, Steffen & Urban, Linda & Ahlswede, Sophie, 2015. "Does a personalized feedback on investment success mitigate investment mistakes of private investors? Answers from large natural field experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112988, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    11. Kim, Jinhwan & Valentine, Kristen, 2021. "The innovation consequences of mandatory patent disclosures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2).
    12. Barber, Brad M. & Odean, Terrance, 2013. "The Behavior of Individual Investors," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1533-1570, Elsevier.
    13. Campbell, John Y & Ranish, Benjamin, 2014. "Getting Better or Feeling Better? How Equity Investors Respond to Investment Experience," CEPR Discussion Papers 9907, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    14. Lili Dai & Rui Shen & Bohui Zhang, 2021. "Does the media spotlight burn or spur innovation?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 343-390, March.
    15. Taylan Mavruk, 2021. "Cross-Regional Differences in News Tone and Local Stock Ownership," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 3276-3298, May.
    16. Turan G. Bali & Robert F. Engle & Yi Tang, 2017. "Dynamic Conditional Beta Is Alive and Well in the Cross Section of Daily Stock Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(11), pages 3760-3779, November.
    17. Hegde, Shantaram P. & Mishra, Dev R., 2023. "Patented knowledge capital and implied equity risk premium," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    18. Tseng, Kevin, 2022. "Learning from the Joneses: Technology spillover, innovation externality, and stock returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
    19. Peress, Joel & Schmidt, Daniel, 2021. "Noise traders incarnate: Describing a realistic noise trading process," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    20. Sheng-Syan Chen & Chia-Wei Huang & Chuan-Yang Hwang & Yanzhi Wang, 2022. "Voluntary disclosure and corporate innovation," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1081-1115, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Corporate disclosure; Information and knowledge; Innovation; Communication; Diffusion processes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G53 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Financial Literacy
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • O34 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:reaccs:v:28:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11142-021-09641-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.