Information gathering is an instinctive response to uncertainty, but such efforts may not fully resolve the uncertainty that prompted them. This implies that proxies for investor information gathering may endogenously reflect investor uncertainty, not only before but also after information...

We examine data on capital-gains-tax-related information search to determine when and how taxpayers acquire information. We find seasonal increases in information search around tax deadlines, suggesting that taxpayers seek information to comply with tax law. Positive correlations between stock...

We examine novel data on searches for capital-gains-tax-related information to determine when and how taxpayers acquire information. We find strong seasonal increases in information search around tax filing deadlines, suggesting that taxpayers seek information to comply with tax law. Positive...

The paper investigates firm managers’ strategic disclosure interactions of quantitative value estimates when facing a rationally inattentive trader who also gathers qualitative information. Considering a model with two firms and using the Kyle (1985) model to price each firm’s securities, I...

Individuals with a preference for keeping moral obligations may dislike learning that voluntary contributions are socially valuable: Such information can trigger unpleasant feelings of cognitive dissonance. I show that if initial beliefs about the social value of contributions are sufficiently...

Recently, the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance (CorpFin) has added an additional guidance to its Financial Reporting Manual (FRM) with respect to the disclosure for goodwill. For firms at a risk of failing the step one of goodwill impairment test, this guidance recommends that firms...

Individuals with a preference for keeping moral obligations may dislike learning that voluntary contributions are socially valuable: Such information can trigger unpleasant feelings of cognitive dissonance. I show that if initial beliefs about the social value of contributions are sufficiently...

We investigate if people exploit moral wiggle room in green markets when revelation is stochastic and the revealed information is potentially erroneous. In our laboratory experiment, subjects purchase products associated with co-benefits represented as a contribution to carbon offsets purchased...

We investigate if decision makers exploit moral wiggle room in green market settings. We therefore implement a laboratory experiment in which subjects purchase products associated with externalities. In six between-subjects treatments, we alter the availability of information on the...

We experimentally examine the effect of self-serving information avoidance on democratic and individual decisions in the context of climate change mitigation. Subjects need to choose between two allocations which differ in own payoffs and contributions to carbon offsets. In a between-subjects...