IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/red/sed011/134.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Asymmetric Attention and Stock Returns

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Wu

    (UC Santa Cruz)

  • Jordi Mondria

    (University of Toronto)

Abstract

We study the asset pricing implications of attention allocation theories. These theories allow us to predict the arrival of private information by observing investors' behavior. Specifically, attention allocation theories suggest that the arrival of private news to local investors lead to an increase in asymmetric attention to stocks between local and nonlocal investors. We construct a measure of asymmetric attention based on aggregate search volume in Google. We find that firms receiving an increase in asymmetric attention earn higher returns, even after controlling for size, book-to-market, momentum and liquidity factors. We find this effect to be stronger among illiquid stocks and stocks headquartered in remote locations. Our results provide direct support for attention allocation theories.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Wu & Jordi Mondria, 2011. "Asymmetric Attention and Stock Returns," 2011 Meeting Papers 134, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed011:134
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://red-files-public.s3.amazonaws.com/meetpapers/2011/paper_134.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    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. Portes, Richard & Rey, Helene, 2005. "The determinants of cross-border equity flows," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 269-296, March.
    3. Kathy Yuan, 2005. "Asymmetric Price Movements and Borrowing Constraints: A Rational Expectations Equilibrium Model of Crises, Contagion, and Confusion," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 379-411, February.
    4. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean & Ning Zhu, 2009. "Do Retail Trades Move Markets?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 151-186, January.
    5. Daniel Dorn & Gur Huberman & Paul Sengmueller, 2008. "Correlated Trading and Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(2), pages 885-920, April.
    6. Grossman, Sanford J & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1980. "On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(3), pages 393-408, June.
    7. Ron Kaniel & Gideon Saar & Sheridan Titman, 2008. "Individual Investor Trading and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 273-310, February.
    8. James L. Davis & Eugene F. Fama & Kenneth R. French, 2000. "Characteristics, Covariances, and Average Returns: 1929 to 1997," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 389-406, February.
    9. Craig W. Holden & Stacey Jacobsen, 2014. "Liquidity Measurement Problems in Fast, Competitive Markets: Expensive and Cheap Solutions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1747-1785, August.
    10. Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Laura Veldkamp, 2009. "Information Immobility and the Home Bias Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(3), pages 1187-1215, June.
    11. Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Laura Veldkamp, 2010. "Information Acquisition and Under-Diversification," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(2), pages 779-805.
    12. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2011. "In Search of Attention," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1461-1499, October.
    13. Mondria, Jordi & Wu, Thomas & Zhang, Yi, 2010. "The determinants of international investment and attention allocation: Using internet search query data," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 85-95, September.
    14. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    15. Pastor, Lubos & Stambaugh, Robert F., 2003. "Liquidity Risk and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 642-685, June.
    16. Daniel, Kent, et al, 1997. "Measuring Mutual Fund Performance with Characteristic-Based Benchmarks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1035-1058, July.
    17. 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.
    18. Uysal, Vahap B. & Kedia, Simi & Panchapagesan, Venkatesh, 2008. "Geography and acquirer returns," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 256-275, April.
    19. Kewei Hou & David T. Robinson, 2006. "Industry Concentration and Average Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1927-1956, August.
    20. Michael S. Drake & Darren T. Roulstone & Jacob R. Thornock, 2012. "Investor Information Demand: Evidence from Google Searches Around Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 1001-1040, September.
    21. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2008. "All That Glitters: The Effect of Attention and News on the Buying Behavior of Individual and Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 785-818, April.
    22. Nagel, Stefan, 2005. "Short sales, institutional investors and the cross-section of stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 277-309, November.
    23. Lee, Charles M C & Ready, Mark J, 1991. "Inferring Trade Direction from Intraday Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(2), pages 733-746, June.
    24. Paul C. Tetlock, 2010. "Does Public Financial News Resolve Asymmetric Information?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(9), pages 3520-3557.
    25. Peng, Lin & Xiong, Wei, 2006. "Investor attention, overconfidence and category learning," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 563-602, June.
    26. Mondria, Jordi & Wu, Thomas, 2010. "The puzzling evolution of the home bias, information processing and financial openness," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 875-896, May.
    27. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 1999. "A Unified Theory of Underreaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2143-2184, December.
    28. Oliver Boguth & Murray Carlson & Adlai Fisher & Mikhail Simutin, 2016. "Horizon Effects in Average Returns: The Role of Slow Information Diffusion," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(8), pages 2241-2281.
    29. Amihud, Yakov, 2002. "Illiquidity and stock returns: cross-section and time-series effects," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 31-56, January.
    30. 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.
    31. 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.
    32. Joel M. Vanden, 2008. "Information Quality and Options," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(6), pages 2635-2676, November.
    33. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    34. Christo Pirinsky & Qinghai Wang, 2006. "Does Corporate Headquarters Location Matter for Stock Returns?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1991-2015, August.
    35. Soeren Hvidkjaer, 2008. "Small Trades and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 1123-1151, May.
    36. García, Diego & Norli, Øyvind, 2012. "Geographic dispersion and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 547-565.
    37. Stefano Dellavigna & Joshua M. Pollet, 2009. "Investor Inattention and Friday Earnings Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 709-749, April.
    38. Mark S. Seasholes & Ning Zhu, 2010. "Individual Investors and Local Bias," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1987-2010, October.
    39. Jonathan Brogaard & Björn Hagströmer & Lars Nordén & Ryan Riordan, 2015. "Trading Fast and Slow: Colocation and Liquidity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(12), pages 3407-3443.
    40. Eric K. Kelley & Paul C. Tetlock, 2013. "How Wise Are Crowds? Insights from Retail Orders and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(3), pages 1229-1265, June.
    41. Lily Fang & Joel Peress, 2009. "Media Coverage and the Cross‐section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 2023-2052, October.
    42. Easley, David, et al, 1996. "Liquidity, Information, and Infrequently Traded Stocks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(4), pages 1405-1436, September.
    43. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    44. Christopher J. Malloy, 2005. "The Geography of Equity Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 719-755, April.
    45. Marcin Kacperczyk & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Laura Veldkamp, 2016. "A Rational Theory of Mutual Funds' Attention Allocation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 571-626, March.
    46. Admati, Anat R, 1985. "A Noisy Rational Expectations Equilibrium for Multi-asset Securities Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(3), pages 629-657, May.
    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. Jordi Mondria & Thomas Wu, 2013. "Imperfect financial integration and asymmetric information: competing explanations of the home bias puzzle?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(1), pages 310-337, February.
    2. Shiu-Yik Au & Ming Dong & Andréanne Tremblay, 2024. "How Much Does Workplace Sexual Harassment Hurt Firm Value?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(4), pages 861-883, April.
    3. Jordi Mondria & Thomas Wu, 2012. "Familiarity and Surprises in International Financial Markets: Bad news travels like wildfire, good news travels slow," 2012 Meeting Papers 50, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Klöckner, Maximilian & Schmidt, Christoph G. & Wagner, Stephan M. & Swink, Morgan, 2023. "Firms’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    5. Benhima, Kenza & Bolliger, Elio, 2022. "Do Local Forecasters Have Better Information?," MPRA Paper 117072, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Sep 2023.
    6. Yuan, Ying & Fan, Xiaoqian & Li, Yiou, 2022. "Do local and non-local retail investor attention impact stock returns differently?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    7. Puhr, Harald & Müllner, Jakob, 2024. "Vox populi, vox dei: A concept and measure for grassroots socio-political risk using Google Trends," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(2).
    8. Amal Aouadi & Sylvain Marsat, 2018. "Do ESG Controversies Matter for Firm Value? Evidence from International Data," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 151(4), pages 1027-1047, September.
    9. Li, Frank Weikai & Sun, Chengzhu, 2022. "Information acquisition and expected returns: Evidence from EDGAR search traffic," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    10. Hirofumi Nishi & S. Drew Peabody, 2024. "Under the spotlight: The peer standard in CSR and the role of public attention," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(2), pages 373-390, May.
    11. David C. Ling & Chongyu Wang & Tingyu Zhou, 2022. "Asset productivity, local information diffusion, and commercial real estate returns," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(1), pages 89-121, March.
    12. Latoeiro, Pedro & Ramos, Sofía B. & Veiga, Helena, 2013. "Predictability of stock market activity using Google search queries," DES - Working Papers. Statistics and Econometrics. WS ws130605, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Estadística.
    13. Zhang, Zuochao & Goodell, John W. & Shen, Dehua & Lahmar, Oumaima, 2024. "Media opinion divergence and stock returns: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Mondria, Jordi & Wang, Xin & Wu, Thomas, 2021. "Familiarity and Surprises in International Financial Markets: Bad news travels like wildfire; good news travels slow," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    15. Jing Wu & Yongheng Deng, 2015. "Intercity Information Diffusion and Price Discovery in Housing Markets: Evidence from Google Searches," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 289-306, April.
    16. Puhr, Harald & Müllner, Jakob, 2022. "Foreign to all but fluent in many: The effect of multinationality on shock resilience," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(6).
    17. Imane El Ouadghiri & Mathieu Gomes & Jonathan Peillex & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2022. "Investor Attention to the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement and Stock Returns," Post-Print hal-03549713, HAL.

    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. García, Diego & Norli, Øyvind, 2012. "Geographic dispersion and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 547-565.
    2. 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).
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Ahmad, Fawad & Oriani, Raffaele, 2022. "Investor attention, information acquisition, and value premium: A mispricing perspective," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Guomei Tang & Xueyong Zhang, 2021. "Media attention to locations and the cross‐section of stock returns," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 2301-2336, April.
    7. 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.
    8. Green, T. Clifton & Huang, Ruoyan & Wen, Quan & Zhou, Dexin, 2019. "Crowdsourced employer reviews and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(1), pages 236-251.
    9. Mondria, Jordi & Wang, Xin & Wu, Thomas, 2021. "Familiarity and Surprises in International Financial Markets: Bad news travels like wildfire; good news travels slow," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    10. Fung, Scott & Obaid, Khaled & Tsai, Shih-Chuan, 2024. "Information acquisition and processing skills of institutions and retail investors around information shocks," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    11. Yuan, Ying & Fan, Xiaoqian & Li, Yiou, 2022. "Do local and non-local retail investor attention impact stock returns differently?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    12. David Hirshleifer & Po-Hsuan Hsu & Dongmei Li, 2018. "Innovative Originality, Profitability, and Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(7), pages 2553-2605.
    13. Cosemans, Mathijs & Frehen, Rik, 2021. "Salience theory and stock prices: Empirical evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 460-483.
    14. Ben-David, Itzhak & Birru, Justin & Rossi, Andrea, 2019. "Industry familiarity and trading: Evidence from the personal portfolios of industry insiders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 49-75.
    15. David C. Ling & Chongyu Wang & Tingyu Zhou, 2022. "Asset productivity, local information diffusion, and commercial real estate returns," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(1), pages 89-121, March.
    16. Ying, Jie, 2024. "Gradual information diffusion across commonly owned firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    17. Atilgan, Yigit & Bali, Turan G. & Demirtas, K. Ozgur & Gunaydin, A. Doruk, 2020. "Left-tail momentum: Underreaction to bad news, costly arbitrage and equity returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(3), pages 725-753.
    18. Li, Frank Weikai & Sun, Chengzhu, 2022. "Information acquisition and expected returns: Evidence from EDGAR search traffic," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    19. Dyer, Travis A., 2021. "The demand for public information by local and nonlocal investors: Evidence from investor-level data," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1).
    20. Xin Chen & Wei He & Libin Tao & Jianfeng Yu, 2023. "Attention and Underreaction-Related Anomalies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(1), pages 636-659, January.

    More about this item

    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:red:sed011:134. 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: Christian Zimmermann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sedddea.html .

    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.