We study the behavior of short sellers as informed market participants and examine potential sources of their information. Using a newly available dataset with high-frequency short sales data, we find evidence of significant increases in short sales immediately prior to large insider sales, but...

Information processing filters out the noise in data but it takes time. Hence, low precision signals are available before high precision signals. We analyze how this feature affects asset price informativeness when investors can acquire signals of increasing precision over time about the payoff...

We examine firms' financial reporting practices during stub periods that are induced by fiscal year changes and not covered by regular quarters. We find that firms report much lower income for the missing months than for adjacent quarters, mainly by recording higher operating expenses. We also...

As an alternative way to shed light on the debate over whether the modified Dechow and Dichev (2002) AQ measure is a priced risk factor, we examine the effect of seasonality on the pricing of AQ. We find that (1) high AQ stocks outperform low AQ stocks only in January; (2) during the rest of the...

High-frequency trading has become a dominant force in the U.S. capital market, accounting for over 70% of dollar trading volume. This study examines the implication of high-frequency trading for stock price volatility and price discovery. I find that high-frequency trading is positively...

This paper analyzes the relationship between public disclosure, private information and stock liquidity using a sample of 41 listed firms in the Tunis Stock Exchange in 2007. First, our results provide evidence that public and private information are independent. Second, Tunisian investors do...

We examine how biased financial reports (managed earnings) affect product market competition and how product market competition affects incentives to bias financial reports in a model with fully rational firms. We find that Cournot competitors bias their reports to create the impression that...

In this paper we investigate whether the secondary market trading of syndicated loans compromises the quality of bank lending practices. We compare the performance of borrowers of traded loans following the initial trading event against the performance of borrowers of non-traded loans following...

Arguments about increased (market based) accounting accruals suggest that the information benefits accrue directly to investors (Barth, 2007; Barth et al., 2008). This paper compares Spanish and Australian accruals as a test of relative information asymmetry, measured by the ability of insiders to...

This study examines the value relevance of consolidated financial statements and cash flow statements in the Indian Stock market. In the recent years several new disclosures have been mandated in India including the cash flow statement and the preparation of consolidated financial statements....