The Impact of the Insider Trading Scandal on the Information Content of the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street" Column

The authors examine the impact of a scandal on the information content in the "Heard on the Street" column of the "Wall Street Journal." Following the scandal in 1984, the column is found to have a reduced impact on stock prices for both buy and sell recommendations. However, the stock price response to information later published in the column before the publication day is smaller for the post-scandal period. This result suggests that after the scandal, editors and authors may have become more cautious in guarding against information leaks in the column. The scandal does not appear to have changed the impact of the column on trading volume.