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An Event Long-Short Index: Theory and Applications

Author

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  • Raymond Fisman
  • Eric Zitzewitz

Abstract

We propose a stock market-based measure to capture initial beliefs about an event's effect on firm profits, which may be used to measure whether initial expectations are subsequently realized. Our "Event Long-Short Index" is the difference in market-capitalization-weighted returns of firms that outperform versus underperform the market on the event date. We use post-event index returns to measure whether initial beliefs are reinforced or attenuated. We apply our approach to the 2016 US presidential election and Brexit referendum to illustrate the index and its interpretation and to validate it, showing that it moves as expected following subsequent political and business news.

Suggested Citation

  • Raymond Fisman & Eric Zitzewitz, 2019. "An Event Long-Short Index: Theory and Applications," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 357-372, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:aea:aerins:v:1:y:2019:i:3:p:357-72
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aeri.20180399
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Swati Dhingra & Thomas Sampson, 2022. "Expecting Brexit," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 495-519, August.
    2. Rui Costa & Swati Dhingra & Stephen Machin, 2022. "New dawn fades: Trade, labour and the Brexit exchange rate depreciation," CEP Discussion Papers dp1890, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Andrew N. Greenland & Mihai Ion & John W. Lopresti & Peter K. Schott, 2020. "Using Equity Market Reactions to Infer Exposure to Trade Liberalization," NBER Working Papers 27510, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Bissoondoyal-Bheenick, Emawtee & Do, Hung & Hu, Xiaolu & Zhong, Angel, 2022. "Sentiment and stock market connectedness: Evidence from the U.S. – China trade war," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Hanke, Michael & Stöckl, Sebastian & Weissensteiner, Alex, 2020. "Political event portfolios," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    6. Tarek Alexander Hassan & Stephan Hollander & Laurence van Lent & Ahmed Tahoun, 2020. "The Global Impact of Brexit Uncertainty," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-332, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    7. Iglesias, Emma M., 2022. "The influence of extreme events such as Brexit and Covid-19 on equity markets," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 418-430.
    8. Child, Travers Barclay & Massoud, Nadia & Schabus, Mario & Zhou, Yifan, 2021. "Surprise election for Trump connections," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 676-697.
    9. Hassan, Tarek & Hollander, Stephan & van Lent, Laurence & Tahoun, Ahmed, 2019. "The Global Impact of Brexit Uncertainty," CEPR Discussion Papers 14253, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Jozef Barunik & Zdenek Drabek & Matej Nevrla, 2020. "Investment Disputes and Abnormal Volatility of Stocks," Papers 2006.10505, arXiv.org.
    11. Herold, Michael & Kanz, Andreas & Muck, Matthias, 2021. "Do opinion polls move stock prices? Evidence from the US presidential election in 2016," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 665-690.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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