TY - JOUR
T1 - Do temporary increases in information asymmetry affect the cost of equity?
AU - Levi, Shai
AU - Zhang, Xiao Jun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
©2015 INFORMS.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - Prior literature finds that long-lasting changes in firms' disclosure policies and information environment affect the cost of equity. Information asymmetry, however, also changes during the fiscal quarter. Firms disclose information periodically, and in between disclosure dates, traders can obtain private information, and adverse-selection risk increases. Such temporary increases in information asymmetry are usually considered to be diversifiable or too small to impact expected stock returns. In addition, investors may postpone trades or sell other assets in their portfolio on high information asymmetry days. We, however, find that returns increase significantly on days during the fiscal quarter when adverse-selection risk is high and liquidity low. Consistent with theory, we show that temporary asymmetry affects returns when investors demand liquidity and market makers bear risk for carrying capacity and providing it.
AB - Prior literature finds that long-lasting changes in firms' disclosure policies and information environment affect the cost of equity. Information asymmetry, however, also changes during the fiscal quarter. Firms disclose information periodically, and in between disclosure dates, traders can obtain private information, and adverse-selection risk increases. Such temporary increases in information asymmetry are usually considered to be diversifiable or too small to impact expected stock returns. In addition, investors may postpone trades or sell other assets in their portfolio on high information asymmetry days. We, however, find that returns increase significantly on days during the fiscal quarter when adverse-selection risk is high and liquidity low. Consistent with theory, we show that temporary asymmetry affects returns when investors demand liquidity and market makers bear risk for carrying capacity and providing it.
KW - Cost of equity
KW - Earnings announcements
KW - Information asymmetry
KW - Liquidity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922381181&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1287/mnsc.2013.1887
DO - 10.1287/mnsc.2013.1887
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AN - SCOPUS:84922381181
SN - 0025-1909
VL - 61
SP - 354
EP - 371
JO - Management Science
JF - Management Science
IS - 2
ER -