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The Limitations of Stock Market Efficiency: Price Informativeness and CEO Turnover

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  • Gary B. Gorton
  • Lixin Huang
  • Qiang Kang

Abstract

Stock prices are more informative when the information has less social value. Speculators with limited resources making costly (private) information production decisions must decide to produce information about some firms and not others. We show that producing and trading on private information is most profitable in the stocks of firms with poor corporate governance -- precisely because it will not be acted upon -- and less profitable at firms with better corporate governance. To the extent that the information in the stock price is used for disciplining the CEO by the board of directors, the informed trader has a reduced incentive to produce the information in the first place. We test our model using the probability of informed trading (PIN) and the probability of forced CEO turnover in a simultaneous-equation system. The empirical results support the model predictions. Stock prices are efficient, but there is a limit to the disciplining role they can fulfill. We apply the model to evaluate the effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Suggested Citation

  • Gary B. Gorton & Lixin Huang & Qiang Kang, 2009. "The Limitations of Stock Market Efficiency: Price Informativeness and CEO Turnover," NBER Working Papers 14944, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14944
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    3. Wang, Xiaoqiong & Zhen, Hongxian & Zhu, Feifei, 2023. "Voting with their feet: Controlling shareholders' share pledging and other major shareholders' strategic response," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    4. Hazarika, Sonali & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Nahata, Rajarishi, 2012. "Internal corporate governance, CEO turnover, and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(1), pages 44-69.
    5. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Nguyen, Thai Vu Hong & Schinckus, Christophe, 2019. "Institutions, economic openness and stock return co-movements: An empirical investigation in emerging markets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 137-147.
    6. Antoinette Schoar & Ebonya L. Washington, 2011. "Are the Seeds of Bad Governance Sown in Good Times?," NBER Working Papers 17061, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Ramzi Benkraiem & Sabri Boubaker & Asif Saeed, 2022. "How does corporate social responsibility engagement affect the information content of stock prices?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1266-1289, July.
    8. Michael Anthony Adams, 2020. "Fiscal Policy and Stock Market Efficiency in the USA: An ARDL Bounds Testing Approach," Journal of Accounting, Business and Finance Research, Scientific Publishing Institute, vol. 9(2), pages 73-81.
    9. Ni, Yensen & Huang, Paoyu & Chen, Yuhsin, 2019. "Board structure, considerable capital, and stock price overreaction informativeness in terms of technical indicators," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 514-528.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G0 - Financial Economics - - General
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

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