IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/empfin/v80y2025ics0927539824001105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Geographical proximity, cultural familiarity and financial information production

Author

Listed:
  • Hao, Han
  • Liu, Chun
  • Pang, Shunzhi

Abstract

This paper examines the distinct impacts of geography and culture on financial information production. Utilizing data from LinkedIn, we categorize Chinese-concept stock analysts into two groups: those working in China and those with a Chinese cultural background. We identify two sources of local advantages: geographical proximity, stemming from the information-access channel, and cultural familiarity, originating from the information-process channel. Additionally, our findings indicate that local advantages reduce stock return synchronicity, and investors can recognize revisions made by geographically proximate analysts.

Suggested Citation

  • Hao, Han & Liu, Chun & Pang, Shunzhi, 2025. "Geographical proximity, cultural familiarity and financial information production," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:empfin:v:80:y:2025:i:c:s0927539824001105
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jempfin.2024.101576
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927539824001105
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jempfin.2024.101576?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. Narasimhan Jegadeesh & Woojin Kim, 2010. "Do Analysts Herd? An Analysis of Recommendations and Market Reactions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(2), pages 901-937, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Devos, Erik & Hao, Wei & Prevost, Andrew K. & Wongchoti, Udomsak, 2015. "Stock return synchronicity and the market response to analyst recommendation revisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 376-389.
    4. Lauren Cohen & Andrea Frazzini & Christopher Malloy, 2010. "Sell‐Side School Ties," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1409-1437, August.
    5. Pan, Yihui & Siegel, Stephan & Wang, Tracy Yue, 2017. "Corporate Risk Culture," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(6), pages 2327-2367, December.
    6. Qiang Cheng & Fei Du & Brian Yutao Wang & Xin Wang, 2019. "Do Corporate Site Visits Impact Stock Prices?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 359-388, March.
    7. Ferreira, Miguel A. & Matos, Pedro & Pereira, João Pedro & Pires, Pedro, 2017. "Do locals know better? A comparison of the performance of local and foreign institutional investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 151-164.
    8. R. Gaston Gelos & Shang‐Jin Wei, 2005. "Transparency and International Portfolio Holdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2987-3020, December.
    9. Allaudeen Hameed & Randall Morck & Jianfeng Shen & Bernard Yeung, 2015. "Information, Analysts, and Stock Return Comovement," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(11), pages 3153-3187.
    10. Raymond Fisman & Daniel Paravisini & Vikrant Vig, 2017. "Cultural Proximity and Loan Outcomes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(2), pages 457-492, February.
    11. Bing Han & Dongmin Kong & Shasha Liu, 2018. "Do Analysts Gain an Informational Advantage by Visiting Listed Companies?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 1843-1867, December.
    12. Chue, Timothy K. & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Mian, G. Mujtaba, 2019. "Aggregate investor sentiment and stock return synchronicity," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    13. Xu, Nianhang & Chan, Kam C. & Jiang, Xuanyu & Yi, Zhihong, 2013. "Do star analysts know more firm-specific information? Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 89-102.
    14. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December.
    15. Wu, Yizhong & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Lee, Chi-Chuan & Peng, Diyun, 2022. "Geographic proximity and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from high-speed rail construction in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    16. Chen, Honghui & Qu, Yuanyu & Shen, Tao & Wang, Qinghai & Xu, David X., 2022. "The Geography of Information Acquisition," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(6), pages 2251-2285, September.
    17. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2001. "The Geography of Investment: Informed Trading and Asset Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(4), pages 811-841, August.
    18. Frijns, Bart & Garel, Alexandre, 2021. "The effect of cultural distance between an analyst and a CEO on analysts’ earnings forecast performance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    19. Jin, Li & Myers, Stewart C., 2006. "R2 around the world: New theory and new tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 257-292, February.
    20. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2015. "The value of corporate culture," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 60-76.
    21. O'Brien, Patricia C. & Tan, Hongping, 2015. "Geographic proximity and analyst coverage decisions: Evidence from IPOs," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 41-59.
    22. Jean-François Bachmann & Guido Bolliger, 2003. "Who are the Best? Local Versus Foreign Analysts on the Latin American Stock Markets," FAME Research Paper Series rp75, International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering.
    23. Karolyi, G. Andrew, 2016. "The gravity of culture for finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 610-625.
    24. Mark Grinblatt & Matti Keloharju, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, June.
    25. Qiang Cheng & Fei Du & Xin Wang & Yutao Wang, 2016. "Seeing is believing: analysts’ corporate site visits," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1245-1286, December.
    26. Welch, Ivo, 2000. "Herding among security analysts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 369-396, December.
    27. Jung, Jay Heon & Kumar, Alok & Lim, Sonya S. & Yoo, Choong-Yuel, 2019. "An analyst by any other surname: Surname favorability and market reaction to analyst forecasts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 306-335.
    28. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2006. "Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 23-48, Spring.
    29. Clement, Michael B., 1999. "Analyst forecast accuracy: Do ability, resources, and portfolio complexity matter?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 285-303, July.
    30. Lai, Sandy & Teo, Melvyn, 2008. "Home-Biased Analysts in Emerging Markets," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 685-716, September.
    31. Kalok Chan & Vicentiu Covrig & Lilian Ng, 2005. "What Determines the Domestic Bias and Foreign Bias? Evidence from Mutual Fund Equity Allocations Worldwide," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(3), pages 1495-1534, June.
    32. Kumar, Alok & Rantala, Ville & Xu, Rosy, 2022. "Social learning and analyst behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 434-461.
    33. Fuxiu Jiang & Kenneth A Kim, 2020. "Corporate Governance in China: A Survey [The role of boards of directors in corporate governance: a conceptual framework and survey]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 24(4), pages 733-772.
    34. Ruishen Zhang, 2022. "Language Commonality and Sell-Side Information Production," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(6), pages 4435-4453, June.
    35. Bolliger, Guido, 2004. "The characteristics of individual analysts' forecasts in Europe," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(9), pages 2283-2309, September.
    36. Yihui Pan & Stephan Siegel & Tracy Yue Wang, 2020. "The Cultural Origin of CEOs’ Attitudes toward Uncertainty: Evidence from Corporate Acquisitions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(7), pages 2977-3030.
    37. French, Kenneth R & Poterba, James M, 1991. "Investor Diversification and International Equity Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 222-226, May.
    38. Christopher J. Malloy, 2005. "The Geography of Equity Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 719-755, April.
    39. Bae, Kee-Hong & Stulz, René M. & Tan, Hongping, 2008. "Do local analysts know more? A cross-country study of the performance of local analysts and foreign analysts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 581-606, June.
    40. Chen, Deqiu & Ma, Yujing & Martin, Xiumin & Michaely, Roni, 2022. "On the fast track: Information acquisition costs and information production," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 794-823.
    41. Beugelsdijk, Sjoerd & Frijns, Bart, 2010. "A cultural explanation of the foreign bias in international asset allocation," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 2121-2131, September.
    42. Jiang, Xuanyu & Yuan, Qingbo, 2018. "Institutional investors' corporate site visits and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 148-168.
    43. Du, Qianqian & Yu, Frank & Yu, Xiaoyun, 2017. "Cultural Proximity and the Processing of Financial Information," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(6), pages 2703-2726, December.
    44. Alexander W. Butler, 2008. "Distance Still Matters: Evidence from Municipal Bond Underwriting," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 763-784, April.
    45. Mitchell A. Petersen & Raghuram G. Rajan, 2002. "Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(6), pages 2533-2570, December.
    46. Hong, Xin & Zhuang, Zhuang & Kang, Di & Wang, Zhibin, 2019. "Do corporate site visits impact hedge fund performance?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 113-128.
    47. Ivkovic, Zoran & Jegadeesh, Narasimhan, 2004. "The timing and value of forecast and recommendation revisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 433-463, September.
    48. Harald Hau, 2001. "Location Matters: An Examination of Trading Profits," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(5), pages 1959-1983, October.
    49. Sumit Agarwal, 2010. "Distance and Private Information in Lending," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2757-2788, July.
    50. Lennox, Clive & Wu, Joanna Shuang, 2022. "A review of China-related accounting research in the past 25 years," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2).
    51. Green, T. Clifton & Jame, Russell & Markov, Stanimir & Subasi, Musa, 2014. "Broker-hosted investor conferences," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 142-166.
    52. Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Lihua & Liu, Shasha, 2020. "Market information traveling on high-speed rails: The case of analyst forecasts," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    53. Anderson, Christopher W. & Fedenia, Mark & Hirschey, Mark & Skiba, Hilla, 2011. "Cultural influences on home bias and international diversification by institutional investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 916-934, April.
    54. Chan, Kalok & Hameed, Allaudeen, 2006. "Stock price synchronicity and analyst coverage in emerging markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 115-147, April.
    55. José María Liberti & Mitchell A Petersen, 2019. "Information: Hard and Soft," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 8(1), pages 1-41.
    56. Daniel Bradley & Sinan Gokkaya & Xi Liu, 2017. "Before an Analyst Becomes an Analyst: Does Industry Experience Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 751-792, April.
    57. Vesa Pursiainen, 2022. "Cultural Biases in Equity Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 163-211, February.
    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. George D. Cashman & David M. Harrison & Michael J. Seiler & Hainan Sheng, 2019. "The Impact of Geographic and Cultural Dispersion on Information Opacity," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 166-208, August.
    2. Eduard Gaar & David Scherer & Dirk Schiereck, 2022. "The home bias and the local bias: A survey," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(1), pages 21-57, February.
    3. Tam, Lewis H.K. & Tian, Shaohua, 2023. "Language barriers, corporate site visit, and analyst forecast accuracy," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 68-83.
    4. Li, Xuan, 2023. "Home bias in shareholder voting," Discussion Papers 2023/21, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    5. Xuanyi Chen & Qiliang Liu & Li Tian & Junbo Wang & Jian Xie, 2024. "Time distance and mutual fund holding horizon: Evidence from a quasi‐natural experiment setting of high‐speed railway opening," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(4), pages 4277-4312, December.
    6. Lei Zheng & Xuemeng Guo & Libin Zhao, 2021. "How Does Transportation Infrastructure Improve Corporate Social Responsibility? Evidence from High-Speed Railway Openings in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-23, June.
    7. repec:osf:socarx:84tfm_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. David C. Ling & Andy Naranjo & Benjamin Scheick, 2021. "There is no place like home: Information asymmetries, local asset concentration, and portfolio returns," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 49(1), pages 36-74, March.
    9. Lee, Junyong & Lee, Kyounghun & Oh, Frederick Dongchuhl, 2023. "International portfolio diversification and the home bias puzzle," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    10. Vesa Pursiainen, 2022. "Cultural Biases in Equity Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 163-211, February.
    11. Yang, Jun & Lu, Jing & Xiang, Cheng, 2020. "Do disclosures of selective access improve market information acquisition fairness? Evidence from company visits in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Chen, Honghui & Qu, Yuanyu & Shen, Tao & Wang, Qinghai, 2024. "Soft information in portfolio management," SocArXiv 84tfm, Center for Open Science.
    13. Ouyang, Caiyue & Xiong, Jiacai & Liu, Li & Yao, Jun, 2024. "Geographic proximity and trade credit: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    14. Tianjiao Zhao & Xiang Xiao & Qinghui Dai, 2021. "Transportation Infrastructure Construction and High-Quality Development of Enterprises: Evidence from the Quasi-Natural Experiment of High-Speed Railway Opening in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, December.
    15. Jennie Bai & Massimo Massa, 2021. "Is Human-Interaction-based Information Substitutable? Evidence from Lockdown," NBER Working Papers 29513, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Fedenia, Mark & Shafer, Sherrill & Skiba, Hilla, 2013. "Information immobility, industry concentration, and institutional investors’ performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2140-2159.
    17. Anil Mishra, 2011. "Australia’s equity home bias and real exchange rate volatility," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 223-244, August.
    18. Xie, Lingmin & Chen, Zhian & Li, Donghui & Tan, Hongping, 2022. "Foreign analysts and managerial investment learning from stock markets," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Anand, Amber & Gatchev, Vladimir A. & Madureira, Leonardo & Pirinsky, Christo A. & Underwood, Shane, 2011. "Geographic proximity and price discovery: Evidence from NASDAQ," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 193-226, May.
    20. Huang, Wan & Bai, Yufan & Luo, Hong, 2024. "Does the geographic location of Blockholders matter? Evidence from Chinese Firms' cross-regional investment," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    21. Gao, Zhan & Quan, Xiaofeng & Xu, Xingmei, 2022. "Under watchful eyes: Analyst site visits and firm earnings management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

    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:eee:empfin:v:80:y:2025:i:c:s0927539824001105. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jempfin .

    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.