The January Effect and Aggregate Insider Trading

This study investigates the seasonal pattern of aggregate insider trading to help distinguish between two competing explanations for the seasonal pattern of security returns. The first potential explanation examined is that the January effect arises from predictable changes in turn-of-the-year demand for securities. The second potential explanation examined is that the January effect represents compensation for the higher risk of trading against informed traders at the turn of the year.     

SOLVING LARGE REPLACEMENT PROBLEMS WITH BUDGET CONSTRAINTS

Traditional replacement models assume unlimited capital. In practice, however, firms frequently use budgets to control their expenditures. Budget constraints necessitate that all replacement decisions be considered as a portfolio, creating a difficult combinatorial problem. In previous research, we developed a branch-and-bound algorithm for solving moderately-sized problems optimally. In this paper, we propose a dual heuristic for dealing with large, realistically sized problems. First, we solve the individual replacement problems ignoring the budget constraints. Then, we reduce, or eliminate, if possible, budget violations by solving a Lagrangian dual problem. The computational tests suggest that the effectiveness of the approach increases with problem size.     

Does Post-Earnings-Announcement Drift in Stock Prices Reflect A Market Inefficiency? A Stochastic Dominance Approach

This paper uses a stochastic dominance approach to test for market efficiency following earnings announcements. We find that the stocks that recently announced good earnings news stochastically dominate those that recently announced bad news. The results cast serious doubt on any belief that asset pricing model misspecifications might explain post-earnings-announcement drift.     

DIRECTED SEARCH,COORDINATION FAILURE,AND SELLER PROFITS: AN EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON OF POSTED PRICING WITH SINGLE AND MULTIPLE PRICES

We experimentally examine posted pricing and directed search. In one treatment, capacity‐constrained sellers post fixed prices, which buyers observe before choosing whom to visit. In the other, firms post both “single‐buyer” (applied when one buyer visits) and “multibuyer” (when multiple buyers visit) prices. We find, based on a 2 × 2 (two buyers and two sellers) market and a follow‐up experiment with 3 and 2 × 3 markets, that multibuyer prices can be lower than single‐buyer prices or prices in the one‐price treatment. Also, allowing the multibuyer price does not affect seller profits and increases market frictions.     

Overreaction or Fundamentals: Some Lessons from Insiders' Response to the Market Crash of 1987

This paper shows that i) the Crash was a surprise to corporate insiders; ii) insiders became buyers of stock in record numbers immediately following the Crash; iii) stocks that declined more during the Crash were also purchased more by insiders; and iv) stocks that were purchased more extensively by insiders during October 1987 showed larger positive returns in 1988. The overall evidence suggests that overreaction was an important part of the Crash.     

Relative Price Variability,Real Shocks,and the Stock Market

In this paper, we investigate the effects of relative price variability on output and the stock market and gauge the extent to which inflation proxies for relative price variability in stock return-inflation regressions. The evidence shows that the negative stock return-inflation relations proxy for the adverse effects of relative price variability on economic activity, particularly during the seventies, when the U.S. experienced oil supply shocks. Hence, it appears that inflation spuriously affects the stock market in two ways: the aggregate output link of Fama (1981) and the supply shocks reflected in relative price variability.