IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v63y2023i3p3297-3323.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Short selling and the independence of business‐related analysts: Evidence from an emerging market

Author

Listed:
  • Lei Chen
  • Zhi Jin
  • Xue Yang

Abstract

This paper investigates whether short‐sale deregulation improves analysts' independence in an emerging market where conventional mechanisms mitigating conflicts of interest are either ineffective or absent. Short selling reduces the effectiveness of analysts' favourable opinions in creating or sustaining overvalued stock prices, thus decreasing the incentives of institutional clients of brokerages to exert pressure on related analysts to initiate coverage and issue biased opinions. Using a difference‐in‐difference approach, we find strong evidence that stocks that are eligible for short sales experience a greater reduction in coverage by related analysts than stocks that are ineligible for short sales. When covered firms become eligible for short sales, the quality of forecasts and recommendations issued by related analysts improves considerably. Further analyses show that shortable firms with a significant reduction in related analysts' coverage are more likely to underperform and to experience stock price crashes in the future. Altogether, our results are consistent with short selling effectively restoring related analysts' independence in emerging markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Lei Chen & Zhi Jin & Xue Yang, 2023. "Short selling and the independence of business‐related analysts: Evidence from an emerging market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3297-3323, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:63:y:2023:i:3:p:3297-3323
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.13037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.13037
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.13037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonathan M. Karpoff & Xiaoxia Lou, 2010. "Short Sellers and Financial Misconduct," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1879-1913, October.
    2. Lin, Hsiou-wei & McNichols, Maureen F., 1998. "Underwriting relationships, analysts' earnings forecasts and investment recommendations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 101-127, February.
    3. Bing Han & Dongmin Kong & Shasha Liu, 2018. "Do Analysts Gain an Informational Advantage by Visiting Listed Companies?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 1843-1867, December.
    4. Michael Firth & Chen Lin & Ping Liu & Yuhai Xuan, 2013. "The Client Is King: Do Mutual Fund Relationships Bias Analyst Recommendations?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 165-200, March.
    5. Qiang Cheng & Fei Du & Xin Wang & Yutao Wang, 2016. "Seeing is believing: analysts’ corporate site visits," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1245-1286, December.
    6. Massa, Massimo & Qian, Wenlan & Xu, Weibiao & Zhang, Hong, 2015. "Competition of the informed: Does the presence of short sellers affect insider selling?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 268-288.
    7. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2001. "Forecasting crashes: trading volume, past returns, and conditional skewness in stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 345-381, September.
    8. Ulrike Malmendier & Devin Shanthikumar, 2014. "Do Security Analysts Speak in Two Tongues?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(5), pages 1287-1322.
    9. Shai Bernstein & Xavier Giroud & Richard R. Townsend, 2016. "The Impact of Venture Capital Monitoring," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(4), pages 1591-1622, August.
    10. Hemang Desai & K. Ramesh & S. Ramu Thiagarajan & Bala V. Balachandran, 2002. "An Investigation of the Informational Role of Short Interest in the Nasdaq Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(5), pages 2263-2287, October.
    11. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    12. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: Firm-level analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 639-662, June.
    13. Vivian W. Fang & Allen H. Huang & Jonathan M. Karpoff, 2016. "Short Selling and Earnings Management: A Controlled Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1251-1294, June.
    14. Harrison Hong & Marcin Kacperczyk, 2010. "Competition and Bias," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1683-1725.
    15. Yinghua Li & Liandong Zhang, 2015. "Short Selling Pressure, Stock Price Behavior, and Management Forecast Precision: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 79-117, March.
    16. Minzhi Wu & Mark Wilson & Yi Wu, 2017. "Was the Global Settlement Effective in Mitigating Systematic Bias in Affiliated Analyst Recommendations?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 485-503, December.
    17. Michaely, Roni & Womack, Kent L, 1999. "Conflict of Interest and the Credibility of Underwriter Analyst Recommendations," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 12(4), pages 653-686.
    18. Lily Fang & Ayako Yasuda, 2009. "The Effectiveness of Reputation as a Disciplinary Mechanism in Sell-Side Research," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(9), pages 3735-3777, September.
    19. T.J. Wong & Mingyi Hung & Fang Zhang, 2015. "The Value of Political Ties versus Market Credibility: Evidence from Corporate Scandals in China," HKUST IEMS Working Paper Series 2015-18, HKUST Institute for Emerging Market Studies, revised Mar 2015.
    20. Corwin, Shane A. & Larocque, Stephannie A. & Stegemoller, Mike A., 2017. "Investment banking relationships and analyst affiliation bias: The impact of the global settlement on sanctioned and non-sanctioned banks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 614-631.
    21. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    22. Fellner, Gerlinde & Theissen, Erik, 2014. "Short sale constraints, divergence of opinion and asset prices: Evidence from the laboratory," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 113-127.
    23. Gu, Zhaoyang & Xue, Jian, 2008. "The superiority and disciplining role of independent analysts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 289-316, August.
    24. M. Dubois & L. Fresard & P. Dumontier, 2014. "Regulating Conflicts of Interest: The Effect of Sanctions and Enforcement," Post-Print halshs-01025922, HAL.
    25. Lennox, Clive & Li, Bing, 2012. "The consequences of protecting audit partners’ personal assets from the threat of liability," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 154-173.
    26. Anup Agrawal & Mark A. Chen, 2008. "Do Analyst Conflicts Matter? Evidence from Stock Recommendations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(3), pages 503-537, August.
    27. Michel Dubois & Laurent Fresard & Pascal Dumontier, 2014. "Regulating Conflicts of Interest: The Effect of Sanctions and Enforcement," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(2), pages 489-526.
    28. Raghuram G. Rajan & Luigi Zingales, 1998. "Which Capitalism? Lessons Form The East Asian Crisis," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 11(3), pages 40-48, September.
    29. Susan M. Young & Emma Y. Peng, 2013. "An Analysis of Accounting Frauds and the Timing of Analyst Coverage Decisions and Recommendation Revisions: Evidence from the US," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3-4), pages 399-437, April.
    30. Zhi Jin & Bingxuan Lin & Xue Yang & Ting Zhang, 2018. "Accounting conservatism and short selling: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3-4), pages 352-394, March.
    31. Ekkehart Boehmer & Charles M Jones & Juan (Julie) Wu & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2020. "What Do Short Sellers Know?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 24(6), pages 1203-1235.
    32. Klein, Benjamin & Crawford, Robert G & Alchian, Armen A, 1978. "Vertical Integration, Appropriable Rents, and the Competitive Contracting Process," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 297-326, October.
    33. Mingyi Hung & T. J. Wong & Fang Zhang, 2015. "The Value of Political Ties Versus Market Credibility: Evidence from Corporate Scandals in China," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(4), pages 1641-1675, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jin, Han & Mazouz, Khelifa & Wu, Yuliang & Xu, Bin, 2023. "Can star analysts make superior coverage decisions in poor information environment?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Yun Ke & Kin Lo & Jinfei Sheng & Jenny Li Zhang, 2023. "Do investors affect financial analysts’ behavior? Evidence from short sellers," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 52(1), pages 199-224, March.
    3. Dambra, Michael & Field, Laura Casares & Gustafson, Matthew T. & Pisciotta, Kevin, 2018. "The consequences to analyst involvement in the IPO process: Evidence surrounding the JOBS Act," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 302-330.
    4. Xu, Nianhang & Jiang, Xuanyu & Chan, Kam C. & Yi, Zhihong, 2013. "Analyst coverage, optimism, and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 217-239.
    5. Tiana Lehmer & Ben Lourie & Devin Shanthikumar, 2022. "Brokerage trading volume and analysts’ earnings forecasts: a conflict of interest?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 441-476, June.
    6. Andreas Charitou & Irene Karamanou, 2020. "Sleeping with the enemy: should investment banks be allowed to engage in prop trading?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 513-557, June.
    7. Huang, Lixin & Li, Wei & Wang, Hong & Wu, Liansheng, 2022. "Stock dividend and analyst optimistic bias in earnings forecast," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 643-659.
    8. Brockman, Paul & Luo, Juan & Xu, Limin, 2020. "The impact of short-selling pressure on corporate employee relations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    9. Jeremy Burke & Angela A. Hung & Jack Clift & Steven Garber & Joanne K. Yoong, 2015. "Impacts of Conflicts of Interest in the Financial Services Industry," Working Papers WR-1076, RAND Corporation.
    10. Vesa Pursiainen, 2022. "Cultural Biases in Equity Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 77(1), pages 163-211, February.
    11. Li, Hao & Li, Zhisheng & Lin, Bingxuan & Xu, Xiaowei, 2019. "The effect of short sale constraints on analyst forecast quality: Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 338-347.
    12. Meng, Qingbin & Huang, Haozheng & Li, Xinyu & Wang, Song, 2023. "Short-selling and corporate default risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 398-417.
    13. Pacelli, Joseph, 2019. "Corporate culture and analyst catering⁎," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 120-143.
    14. Dong, Yunhe & Luo, Haoyi & Xu, Zijin & Yang, Xing, 2024. "Investing while lending: Do index funds improve managerial information disclosure?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    15. Bradley, Daniel, 2018. "Discussion of “analyst stock ownership and stock recommendations”," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 499-505.
    16. Elizabeth Devos & Erik Devos & Seow Eng Ong & Andrew C. Spieler, 2019. "Are REIT Investors Overly Optimistic after Equity Offerings?: Evidence from Analyst Forecast Errors," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 148-165, August.
    17. Cai, Huan & Qi, Zhen, 2021. "Private conversation matters: Evidence from sell-side analyst reports after private meetings," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    18. Haozhi Huang & Mingsheng Li & Jing Shi, 2020. "Should Financial Gatekeepers be Publicly Traded?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 175-200, June.
    19. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2015. "Short interest and stock price crash risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 181-194.
    20. Chen, Tao & Harford, Jarrad & Lin, Chen, 2015. "Do analysts matter for governance? Evidence from natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 383-410.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:63:y:2023:i:3:p:3297-3323. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.