This paper examines the effect of social trust on local bias. Our evidence suggests that institutional investors located in high-trust regions of the United States exhibit lower local bias. Moreover, we find that high-trust investors are better diversified, suggesting that trust helps accomplish...

We show that a lack of investor trust affects the revision of cash flow expectations and delays the incorporation of accounting information into the stock price. To overcome investors' dependence on trust, managers can obtain external certification—either through credit ratings or by employing...

We study how overconfident CEOs communicate with the market and whether this has implications on the firm's information environment. Textual analysis reveals that overconfident CEOs communicate using less negative tone in their 10K/Q filings. Our evidence suggests that overconfident CEOs provide...

We identify the power of institutional blockholders to influence management using previous occurrences of forced CEO turnover at other firms in the blockholders' overall portfolio. We create a “powerful blockholder linkage” measure that strongly predicts future forced CEO turnover. These...

We hypothesize that prestigious golf courses attract golfers and visitors from across the country, providing greater opportunities for nearby investors to build social connections. Our evidence suggests that institutional investors located near prestigious golf courses earn significantly better...

We identify a group of investors with a track-record of owning firms that undergo securities class action lawsuits. We hypothesize and find evidence that these investors are ineffective monitors of corporate management. Firms with a large proportion of these shareholders are at greater risk of...

If a lack of trust causes investors to discount the information in accounting numbers, then the stock price will tend to under-react to earnings surprises. Using survey measures of interpersonal trust across regions of the United States, we find greater stock price reactions to earnings...