Download or read book Three Essays on Information and Asset Pricing written by Xin Zhou and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second essay examines the effect of a short-sale constraint on risky asset price in a rational expectations model with asymmetric information. Imposing a short-sale constraint creates two competing effects. On one hand, it reduces the risky asset supply and exerts upward pressure on asset price. On the other hand, it forces investors with negative views on asset payoff to be sidelined. The latter effect can reduce the informational efficiency of asset price, which in turn decreases investors' demand for the risky asset. Consequently, imposing a short-sale constraint can bias equilibrium asset price in either direction depending on which effect dominates. Empirical analysis using short interest and institutional ownership data suggests that an increase in short interest relative to shares outstanding for individual stocks reduces informational efficiency measured by the probability of information-based trading and leads to lower risk adjusted stock returns. The effect of short-sale constraint on return volatility is ambiguous.