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When chasing the offender hurts the victim: The case of insider legislation

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  • Palan, Stefan
  • Stöckl, Thomas

Abstract

Backers and opponents argue over the pros and cons of legislation forbidding trading by informed insiders. Yet a lack of reliable empirical data about the effects of such legislation inhibits a conclusive scientific evaluation. We overcome this problem by resorting to laboratory markets and find that insider legislation has significant negative effects on multiple market dimensions: under insider legislation, (1) markets are less liquid, (2) markets are less informationally efficient, and (3) uninformed traders׳ earnings (before redistribution of illicit insider gains) are lower.

Suggested Citation

  • Palan, Stefan & Stöckl, Thomas, 2017. "When chasing the offender hurts the victim: The case of insider legislation," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 104-129.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finmar:v:35:y:2017:i:c:p:104-129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.finmar.2016.07.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Merl, Robert & Stöckl, Thomas & Palan, Stefan, 2023. "Insider trading regulation and shorting constraints. Evaluating the joint effects of two market interventions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Stöckl, Thomas & Palan, Stefan, 2018. "Catch me if you can. Can human observers identify insiders in asset markets?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 1-17.
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    5. Merl, Robert & Palan, Stefan & Schmidt, Dominik & Stöckl, Thomas, 2023. "Insider trading regulation and trader migration," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
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    7. repec:grz:wpsses:2021-03 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2020. "Essays on the Vietnam Stock Market," OSF Preprints 3uaqt, Center for Open Science.
    9. Merl, Robert, 2022. "Literature review of experimental asset markets with insiders," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    10. Dominik Schmidt & Thomas Stöckl & Stefan Palan, 2024. "Voting for insider trading regulation. An experimental study of informed and uninformed traders’ preferences," Post-Print hal-04692482, HAL.
    11. Chen, Rong & Geng, Heng (Griffin) & Lin, Hai & Nguyen, Phuong Thi Ly, 2021. "Liquidity, informed trading, and a market surveillance system: Evidence from the Vietnamese stock market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insider legislation; Asset market; Price efficiency; Trading behavior; Experimental finance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

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