Do analysts' forecast properties deter suboptimal labor investment decisions? Evidence from Regulation Fair Disclosure

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Journal of Corporate Finance

Publication Date

6-1-2021

Abstract

We examine whether analyst forecast properties deter inefficient labor investment decisions. Using accuracy and dispersion as analyst forecast properties, we find that more accurate and less dispersed forecasts are associated with less inefficient corporate labor investments. We Utilizing Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) as an exogenous variation to analyst forecasts' activities we find a causal relationship between analyst forecast properties and labor investment inefficiency. We also find that more accurate and less dispersed forecasts decrease labor cost stickiness. Our results are consistent with the view that analyst forecast properties enhance the information environment, which, in turn, improves corporate labor investment decisions.

ISSN

0929-1199

Publisher

Elsevier

Volume

69

Disciplines

Business

Keywords

Analysts properties, Reg FD, Labor cost stickiness, Labor investment

Scopus ID

85107929300

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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