IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cpr/ceprdp/3292.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Regulating Insider Trading when Investment Matters

Author

Listed:
  • Vives, Xavier
  • Medrano, Luis Angel

Abstract

We analyse the effects of insider trading on real investment and welfare, and the consequences of different regulatory policies: a disclose-or-abstain rule, ?fair? disclosure, laissez-faire and forbidding insider trades based on ?precise? information. We perform the analysis in a model in which all traders are rational expected-utility maximizers and aware of their position in the market. We compare the equilibrium with insider trading with the equilibrium in the same market without insider trading in two scenarios: costly and costless information acquisition. We find that with costly information acquisition an abstain-or-disclose rule tends to be optimal while with free information acquisition laissez-faire is better. This suggests enforcing an abstain-or-disclose rule with a high standard of proof for inside information. This rule of thumb advocates a laissez policy both for selective disclosure and in high-tech industries. Our approach uncovers the pitfalls of welfare analysis in the noise trader model.

Suggested Citation

  • Vives, Xavier & Medrano, Luis Angel, 2002. "Regulating Insider Trading when Investment Matters," CEPR Discussion Papers 3292, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:3292
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP3292
    Download Restriction: CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org
    ---><---

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

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Douglas W. Diamond & Philip H. Dybvig, 2000. "Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, vol. 24(Win), pages 14-23.
    2. Damodaran, Aswath & Liu, Crocker H, 1993. "Insider Trading as a Signal of Private Information," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(1), pages 79-119.
    3. Ausubel, Lawrence M, 1990. "Insider Trading in a Rational Expectations Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1022-1041, December.
    4. Hirshleifer, Jack, 1971. "The Private and Social Value of Information and the Reward to Inventive Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 61(4), pages 561-574, September.
    5. Bernhardt, Dan & Hughson, Eric, 2002. "Intraday trade in dealership markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1697-1732, October.
    6. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Spiegel, Matthew, 1991. "Insiders, Outsiders, and Market Breakdowns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(2), pages 255-282.
    7. Danthine, Jean-Pierre & Moresi, Serge, 1993. "Volatility, information and noise trading," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 961-982, June.
    8. Rohit Rahi, 1996. "Adverse Selection and Security Design," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 63(2), pages 287-300.
    9. Demange Gabrielle & Laroque Guy, 1995. "Private Information and the Design of Securities," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 233-257, February.
    10. Sarkar Asani, 1994. "On the Equivalence of Noise Trader and Hedger Models in Market Microstructure," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 204-212, March.
    11. Leland, Hayne E, 1992. "Insider Trading: Should It Be Prohibited?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(4), pages 859-887, August.
    12. Demsetz, Harold, 1986. "Corporate Control, Insider Trading, and Rates of Return," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 313-316, May.
    13. Diamond, Douglas W. & Verrecchia, Robert E., 1981. "Information aggregation in a noisy rational expectations economy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 221-235, September.
    14. Michael Manove, 1989. "The Harm from Insider Trading and Informed Speculation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 104(4), pages 823-845.
    15. Utpal Bhattacharya & Hazem Daouk, 2002. "The World Price of Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 75-108, February.
    16. Albert S. Kyle, 1989. "Informed Speculation with Imperfect Competition," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 56(3), pages 317-355.
    17. Bernhardt, Dan & Hollifield, Burton & Hughson, Eric, 1995. "Investment and Insider Trading," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 8(2), pages 501-543.
    18. Khanna, Naveen & Slezak, Steve L & Bradley, Michael, 1994. "Insider Trading, Outside Search, and Resource Allocation: Why Firms and Society May Disagree on Insider Trading Restrictions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 7(3), pages 575-608.
    19. Repullo, Rafael, 1999. "Some Remarks on Leland's Model of Insider Trading," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 66(263), pages 359-374, August.
    20. Bray, Margaret, 1985. "Rational Expectations, Information and Asset Markets: An Introduction," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(2), pages 161-195, June.
    21. Holmstrom, Bengt & Tirole, Jean, 1993. "Market Liquidity and Performance Monitoring," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 101(4), pages 678-709, August.
    22. Spiegel, Matthew & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 1992. "Informed Speculation and Hedging in a Noncompetitive Securities Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 5(2), pages 307-329.
    23. Yosha Oved, 1995. "Information Disclosure Costs and the Choice of Financing Source," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 3-20, January.
    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. David Russ, 2020. "Multidimensional Noise and Non-Fundamental Information Diversity," Working Papers 201, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).
    2. Mirman, Leonard J. & Santugini, Marc, 2013. "Firms, shareholders, and financial markets," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 152-164.
    3. Giovanni Cespa & Xavier Vives, 2012. "Dynamic Trading and Asset Prices: Keynes vs. Hayek," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(2), pages 539-580.
    4. Kurlat, Pablo & Veldkamp, Laura, 2015. "Should we regulate financial information?," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 158(PB), pages 697-720.
    5. Giovanni Cespa, 2008. "Information Sales and Insider Trading with Long‐Lived Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 639-672, April.
    6. Foucault, Thierry & Cespa, Giovanni, 2008. "Insiders-outsiders, transparency and the value of the ticker," HEC Research Papers Series 892, HEC Paris.
    7. Juan Jose Cruces & Enrique L. Kawamura, 2005. "Insider Trading and Corporate Governance in Latin America: A Sequential Trade Model Approach," Working Papers 86, Universidad de San Andres, Departamento de Economia, revised Dec 2005.
    8. Andrea M. Buffa & Giovanna Nicodano, 2008. "Should Insider Trading be Prohibited when Share Repurchases are Allowed?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(4), pages 735-765.
    9. Vahe Lskavyan, 2015. "Insider regulation and the incentive to invest as an insider," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 207-227, August.
    10. Krebs, Tom, 2005. "Fundamentals, information, and international capital flows: A welfare analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 579-598, April.
    11. Nina Boyarchenko & David O. Lucca & Laura Veldkamp, 2015. "Taking orders and taking notes: dealer information sharing in financial markets," Staff Reports 726, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    12. Foucault, Thierry & Cespa, Giovanni, 2008. "Insiders-outsiders, transparency and the value of the ticker," HEC Research Papers Series 892, HEC Paris.
    13. Xavier Vives, 2014. "Strategic Complementarity, Fragility, and Regulation," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(12), pages 3547-3592.
    14. Nina Boyarchenko & David O. Lucca & Laura Veldkamp, 2016. "Taking Orders and Taking Notes: Dealer Information Sharing in Treasury Markets," NBER Working Papers 22461, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Winter, Christoph, 2018. "The Impact of Heterogeneous Signals on Stock Price Predictability in a Rational Expectations Model," Working papers 2018/21, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    16. Manzano, Carolina & Vives, Xavier, 2011. "Public and private learning from prices, strategic substitutability and complementarity, and equilibrium multiplicity," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 346-369.
    17. Dieler, T., 2014. "Essays on asset trading," Other publications TiSEM ea0c811e-e335-402f-a3e2-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    18. Lenkey, Stephen L., 2017. "Insider trading and the short-swing profit rule," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 517-545.
    19. Bernhardt, Dan & Taub, Bart, 2010. "How and when is dual trading irrelevant?," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 295-320, May.
    20. Maug, Ernst, 2002. "Insider trading legislation and corporate governance," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1569-1597, October.
    21. Pavan, Alessandro & Vives, Xavier, 2015. "Information, Coordination, and Market Frictions: An Introduction," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 158(PB), pages 407-426.
    22. Giovanni Cespa, 2008. "Information Sales and Insider Trading with Long‐Lived Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 639-672, April.
    23. Detemple, Jerome & Rindisbacher, Marcel & Robertson, Scott, 2022. "Dynamic noisy rational expectations equilibrium with insider information: Welfare and regulation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    24. Russ, David, 2022. "Multidimensional noise and non-fundamental information diversity," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).

    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. Maug, Ernst, 2002. "Insider trading legislation and corporate governance," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(9), pages 1569-1597, October.
    2. Chen, Zhihong & Huang, Yuan & Kusnadi, Yuanto & John Wei, K.C., 2017. "The real effect of the initial enforcement of insider trading laws," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 687-709.
    3. Liu, Jun & Peleg, Ehud & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2004. "The Value of Private Information," University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management qt71t9z3w3, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA.
    4. Estrada, Javier, 1994. "Insider trading: regulation, securities markets, and welfare under risk neutrality," UC3M Working papers. Economics 2922, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    5. James Dow, 2003. "Informed Trading, Investment, and Welfare," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(3), pages 439-454, July.
    6. Vayanos, Dimitri & Wang, Jiang, 2013. "Market Liquidity—Theory and Empirical Evidence ," 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 1289-1361, Elsevier.
    7. Dow, James & Rahi, Rohit, 1998. "Informed trading, investment, and welfare," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119147, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. García, Diego & Urošević, Branko, 2013. "Noise and aggregation of information in large markets," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 526-549.
    9. Chi-Wen Lee & Zemin Lu, 2008. "Trading on inside information when there may be tippees," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 241-260, October.
    10. Vahe Lskavyan, 2015. "Insider regulation and the incentive to invest as an insider," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 207-227, August.
    11. Franklin Allen & Richard Herring, 2001. "Banking Regulation versus Securities Market Regulation," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 01-29, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    12. Juan Hatchondo, 2004. "The value of information with heterogeneous agents and partially revealing prices," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 175, Econometric Society.
    13. Luke M. Bennett & Wei Hu, 2023. "Filtration enlargement‐based time series forecast in view of insider trading," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 112-140, February.
    14. Andrea M. Buffa & Giovanna Nicodano, 2008. "Should Insider Trading be Prohibited when Share Repurchases are Allowed?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 12(4), pages 735-765.
    15. Lenkey, Stephen L., 2017. "Insider trading and the short-swing profit rule," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 517-545.
    16. Brockman, Paul & Tresl, Jiri & Unlu, Emre, 2014. "The impact of insider trading laws on dividend payout policy," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 263-287.
    17. Detemple, Jerome & Rindisbacher, Marcel & Robertson, Scott, 2022. "Dynamic noisy rational expectations equilibrium with insider information: Welfare and regulation," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    18. Elyès Jouini & Clotilde Napp, 2008. "Are More Risk-Averse Agents More Optimistic? Insights from a Simple Rational Expectations Equilibrium Model," Post-Print halshs-00176630, HAL.
    19. Laura Nyantung Beny, 2005. "Do Insider Trading Laws Matter? Some Preliminary Comparative Evidence," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp741, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    20. Estrada, Javier, 1995. "Insider trading: Regulation, securities markets, and welfare under risk aversion," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 421-449.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insider trading selective disclosure; Disclose-or-abstain rule; Real investment; Welfare; Hedging; Speculation; Noise traders;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cpr:ceprdp:3292. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cepr.org .

    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.