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Review of Financial Studies Vol. 34 No. 10 2021

Information Dispersion across Employees and Stock Returns

Ashwini K. Agrawal1; Isaac Hacamo2; Zhongchen Hu1

1 London School of Economics · 2 Indiana University

open access

Abstract

Rank-and-file employees are becoming increasingly critical for many firms, yet we know little about how their employment dynamics matter for stock prices. We analyze new data from the individual CV’s of public company employees and find that rank-and-file labor flows can be used to predict abnormal stock returns. Accounting data and survey evidence indicate that workers’ labor market decisions reflect information about future corporate earnings. Investors, however, do not appear to fully incorporate this information into their earnings expectations. The findings support the hypothesis that rank-and-file employees’ entry and exit decisions reveal valuable insights into their employers’ future stock performance.

DOI
10.1093/rfs/hhaa105
Volume
34
Issue
10
Pages
4785-4831
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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