CEO's insider trading gains are affected by the position of the CEO within the hierarchy of all executives, as assessed by network centrality. CEOs with high centrality earn superior abnormal returns following their company's stock purchases, consistent with social capital advantage. Social...

Politically connected insiders are more likely to sell shares prior to negative abnormal returns and engage in other aggressive trading behavior: trading prior and closer to major corporate events, trading during periods that overlap with traditional blackout periods, and missing SEC timely...

In this study, we examine whether the social capital surrounding the firm’s corporate headquarters mitigates managerial self-dealing in the form of opportunistic insider trading. We find strong evidence that the level of social capital in the region surrounding the firm’s headquarters is...

U.K. company insiders, such as directors, were legally allowed to trade in the shares of their own companies up until the Companies Act of 1980. We investigate the trading behaviour of directors over the period 1893 to 1907 in the U.K. Although insider trading was profitable, we find relatively...

Insider trading is regarded as an unethical practice that promotes insiders’ self-interests at the expense of uninformed traders. We investigate the association between a chief executive officer (CEO)’s marital status and her tendency to profit from insider trading. We argue that marriage...

Do illegal insiders internalize legal risk? We address this question with hand-collected data from530 SEC investigations. Using two plausibly exogenous shocks to expected penalties, we showthat insiders trade less aggressively and earlier and concentrate on tips of greater value whenfacing...

We use the controversial aspect of insider trading to analyze the impact of local social norms on insiders' profits. We argue that religiosity is a source of social norms curbing self-interested behavior and, accordingly, it limits corporate insiders' opportunistic trading on private...

The monthly value of insider trades increases over 200% in firms headquartered in counties with a climate disaster. Climate-induced insider trading holds in general but is stronger when investors are distracted and less prevalent when insiders face higher litigation risk. Firm fundamentals...