Using hand-collected TV programming data and intra-day trading data from China, we compare the trading, liquidity, and returns of on-show and off-show stocks in the same sector. Our difference-in-difference analysis reveals that post-show, off-show stocks experience significant improvements in...

We document that institutional trading and short selling around earnings announcements are 15%-20% lower during school holidays than other times. This reduced trading cannot be explained by liquidity or short sale constraints. Prices react to negative news released during school holidays with a...

The outcomes of many activities depend upon both skill and luck. We analyze stock analysts' forecasts of companies' earnings per share under market conditions that vary in volatility and thus imply different levels of luck in outcomes. Noting that making forecasts that deviate widely from the...

We study the relation between mutual fund trades and media coverage of stocks. We find that on average mutual funds tend to trade high-coverage stocks. Meanwhile, funds display substantial cross-sectional heterogeneity in terms of their propensity to trade high-coverage stocks. The more likely...

Using 1994-2009 data, we find that All-American (AA) analysts' buy and sell portfolio alphas significantly exceed those of non-AAs by up to 0.6% per month after risk-adjustments for investors with advance access to analyst recommendations. For investors without such access, top-rank AAs still...

By reaching a broad population of investors, mass media can alleviate informational frictions and affect security pricing even if it does not supply genuine news. We investigate this hypothesis by studying the cross-sectional relation between media coverage and expected stock returns. We find...

Using 1994-2009 data, we examine the relation between analysts' star status and their recommendation values. For investors with private, advance access to analyst recommendations (e.g., institutions), trading on All-American (AA) analysts' buy and sell recommendations yields significantly better...

The relationship between investment bank reputation and the price and quality of bond underwriting services is studied. After controlling for the endogeneity in issuer-underwriter matching, I find that reputable banks obtain lower yields, charge higher fees, while leaving issuers' net proceeds...

Exploiting a 20-year sample of leveraged buyouts matched to French administrative data, we document that target firms post-buyout experience reduced within-firm wage inequality together with increased profitability relative to control firms. Pay gaps between men and women, managers and...