Gender Composition Reduces Analysts’ Optimism Bias Under Pressure
In our recent work, published in Harvard Business Review and based on our Journal of Banking & Finance paper, we study conflicts of interest in the banking industry. We show that brokerages with a higher share of women see their analysts (men and women alike) issue less inflated target prices when pressure is highest, i.e.,…
ASC 842 didn’t just move leases onto the balance sheet; it moved bond spreads
Studying corporate bonds around firms’ first ASC 842 earnings announcements, our paper shows that when newly recognized lease liabilities came in higher than investors had inferred from footnotes, bond yields stepped up within days. The reaction was asymmetrical: markets punished underestimated lease debt but didn’t reward overestimates. The histogram in the figure below shows that…
Social commonalities make people click… and share private information
Inside large U.S. firms, similarity quietly moves information. Analyzing insider trades from 1995–2016, we find that sharing a salient identity (especially gender) between insiders and the CEO/CFO opens informal channels that show up in trading results. When a woman holds the top executive or finance seat, female insiders’ trades become more profitable while men’s edge…
Can firms’ own insider trading restrictions affect financial reporting quality?
In our recent paper (see here), we find the answer to this question is yes. Insider trading is a great tool to explore what motivates firms to communicate the way they do — and sometimes, there’s even more information in the lack of trading. Take, for instance, firms’ self-imposed insider trading restrictions, also known as…
About Me
Hi, I’m Elvira. Here are some insights about my work. Enjoy & get in touch if you’re interested!
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Elvira Scarlat 