IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/10468.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Soft Information, Hard Sell: The Role of Soft Information in the Pricing of Intellectual Property

Author

Listed:
  • William N. Goetzmann
  • Vicente Pons-Sanz
  • S. Abraham Ravid

Abstract

There is a growing literature on the differential impact of soft' vs. hard' information on organizational structure and behavior. This study is an attempt to empirically quantify the value of soft information, using a data-base on the market for screenplays. Script quality is difficult to estimate without subjective evaluation. Therefore soft information should be an integral part of the pricing of these intellectual assets. In our empirical analysis, we find that hard information' (reputation) variables as well as soft information' proxies are priced. Screenplays with high soft information content are priced significantly lower than high concept' harder information'- type scripts. We also follow the screenplays to production, and find that buyers seem to be able to forecast the success of a script, paying more for screenplays resulting in more successful films. In other words, high concept' (harder information) screenplays sell for more and result in more successful movies.

Suggested Citation

  • William N. Goetzmann & Vicente Pons-Sanz & S. Abraham Ravid, 2004. "Soft Information, Hard Sell: The Role of Soft Information in the Pricing of Intellectual Property," NBER Working Papers 10468, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10468
    Note: IO AP
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w10468.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gibbons, Robert & Murphy, Kevin J, 1992. "Optimal Incentive Contracts in the Presence of Career Concerns: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(3), pages 468-505, June.
    2. Berger, Allen N. & Miller, Nathan H. & Petersen, Mitchell A. & Rajan, Raghuram G. & Stein, Jeremy C., 2005. "Does function follow organizational form? Evidence from the lending practices of large and small banks," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 237-269, May.
    3. C. Edward Fee, 2002. "The Costs of Outside Equity Control: Evidence from Motion Picture Financing Decisions," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 681-712, October.
    4. Arthur De Vany & W. David Walls, 2002. "Does Hollywood Make Too Many R-Rated Movies? Risk, Stochastic Dominance, and the Illusion of Expectation," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(3), pages 425-452, July.
    5. Carter, Richard B & Manaster, Steven, 1990. "Initial Public Offerings and Underwriter Reputation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1045-1067, September.
    6. Dina Mayzlin & Judith A. Chevalier, 2003. "The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm413, Yale School of Management.
    7. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1994. "The Benefits of Lending Relationships: Evidence from Small Business Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-37, March.
    8. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:1:p:285-311 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Yoshiaki Ogura, 2017. "The Certification Role of pre-IPO Banking Relationships: Evidence from IPO Underpricing in Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 68(2), pages 257-278, June.
    2. S. Ravid & John Wald & Suman Basuroy, 2006. "Distributors and film critics: does it take two to Tango?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 30(3), pages 201-218, December.
    3. William Goetzmann & S. Ravid & Ronald Sverdlove, 2013. "The pricing of soft and hard information: economic lessons from screenplay sales," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 37(2), pages 271-307, May.
    4. Song Zhang & Liang Han & Konstantinos Kallias & Antonios Kallias, 2021. "The value of in-person banking: evidence from U.S. small businesses," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1393-1435, November.
    5. Fabio Panetta & Fabiano Schivardi & Matthew Shum, 2009. "Do Mergers Improve Information? Evidence from the Loan Market," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 41(4), pages 673-709, June.
    6. Bertrand, Jérémie & Murro, Pierluigi, 2022. "Firm–bank “odd couples” and trade credit: Evidence from Italian small- and medium-sized enterprises," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    7. Berger, Allen N. & Boot, Arnoud W.A., 2024. "Financial intermediation services and competition analyses: Review and paths forward for improvement," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    8. Gaenssle Sophia & Budzinski Oliver & Astakhova Daria, 2018. "Conquering the Box Office: Factors Influencing Success of International Movies in Russia," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 17(4), pages 245-266, December.
    9. Hussain, Inayat & Durand, Robert B. & Harris, Mark N., 2021. "Relationship lending: A source of support or a means of exploitation?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    10. Pankaj C. Patel & Mike G. Tsionas, 2022. "Learning‐by‐lending and learning‐by‐repaying: A two‐sided learning model for defaults on Small Business Administration loans," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(4), pages 906-919, June.
    11. Sebastian Doerr & Thomas Drechsel & Donggyu Lee, 2021. "Income inequality, financial intermediation, and small firms," BIS Working Papers 944, Bank for International Settlements.
    12. S. Ravid & Suman Basuroy, 2003. "Managerial Objectives, the R-Rating Puzzle and the Production of Violent Films," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm383, Yale School of Management.
    13. Chuluun, Tuugi, 2015. "The role of underwriter peer networks in IPOs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 62-78.
    14. Sengupta, Rajdeep, 2007. "Foreign entry and bank competition," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 502-528, May.
    15. Herrero, Alicia Garcia & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad, 2007. "The mix of international banks' foreign claims: Determinants and implications," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1613-1631, June.
    16. Francesco Aiello & Graziella Bonanno, 2018. "Multilevel empirics for small banks in local markets," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(4), pages 1017-1037, November.
    17. Borchert, Lea & de Haas, Ralph & Kirschenmann, Karolin & Schultz, Alison, 2023. "Broken relationships: De-risking by correspondent banks and international trade," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-064, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Hibbeln, Martin & Norden, Lars & Usselmann, Piet & Gürtler, Marc, 2020. "Informational synergies in consumer credit," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    19. Uchida, Hirofumi & Udell, Gregory F. & Yamori, Nobuyoshi, 2012. "Loan officers and relationship lending to SMEs," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 97-122.
    20. Liu, Xia & Megginson, William & Tran, Nhu & Wei, Siqi, 2024. "Who Loses Most When Big Banks Suddenly Fail? Evidence from Silicon Valley Bank Collapse," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation

    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:nbr:nberwo:10468. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.