Option Investor Rationality Revisited

Do option investors rationally exercise their options? Numerous studies report evidence of irrational behavior. In this paper, we pay careful attention to intraday option quotes and reach the opposite conclusion. An exercise boundary violation (EBV) occurs when the best bid price for an American option is below the option’s intrinsic value. Far from being unusual, we show that EBVs occur very frequently. Under these conditions, the rational response of an investor liquidating an option is to exercise the option rather than sell it. Empirically, we find that the likelihood of early exercise is strongly influenced by the existence and duration of EBVs. Not only do these results reverse standard theory on American option valuation and optimal exercise strategy, but they also suggest that the ability to avoid selling at an EBV price creates an additional source of value for American options that is unrelated, and in addition to, dividend payments. This additional value may help explain why American options appear overpriced relative to European options

A Methodology for Streamlining Historical Research: The Analysis of Technical and Scientific Publications

This article provides a framework for organizing and structuring the research of historical researchers who analyze technical and scientific publications. Because historical research spans both decades and centuries, an effective research methodology is essential. The framework consists of a multifaceted 10-step method for studying the written discourse of scientific and technical communication, specifically for interpreting historical data obtained from articles published in technical and scientific journals. The method is a reliable means for making sense of the enormous body of data that awaits historical researchers in the volumes of scientific and technical discourse already published

Market declines: is banning short selling the solution?

In response to the sharp decline in prices of financial stocks in the fall of 2008, regulators in a number of countries banned short selling of particular stocks and industries. Evidence suggests that these bans did little to stop the slide in stock prices, but significantly increased costs of liquidity. In August 2011, the U.S. market experienced a large decline when Standard and Poor's announced a downgrade of U.S. debt. Our cross-sectional tests suggest that the decline in stock prices was not significantly driven or amplified by short selling. Short selling does not appear to be the root cause of recent stock market declines. Furthermore, banning short selling does not appear to prevent stock prices from falling when firm-specific or economy-wide economic fundamentals are weak, and may impose high costs on market participants

Who, if Anyone, Reacts to Accrual Information?

We confirm and extend prior research that suggests accrual levels predict future returns, even after controlling for earnings surprise. We then document abnormal buying behavior around 10-K/Q filing dates that correlates with accrual level. Specifically, we extend Collins and Hribar (2000) by showing that the accrual anomaly persists for a sample of firms followed by analysts after controlling for analyst earnings forecast errors and using exact 10-K/Q filing dates. We then show that large traders, those who initiate trades of at least 5,000 shares, tend to trade in the correct direction in response to accrual information released in SEC filings after preliminary earnings. This tendency is limited, however, to cases where earnings conveyed favorable news initially. Investors who use accrual information apparently ignore stocks whose earnings convey unfavorable news or believe that accrual level is not informative for these firms. We also provide some evidence that the smallest traders react to accrual information, but in the wrong direction