Rawson Discusses Role of Public Information and Strategic Communication in Stock Trades

University Relations

Caleb Rawson, professor of accounting.

In a recent study, accounting professor Caleb Rawson found that companies will often issue a press release touting positive news at the same time they're forced to disclose bad news.

Rawson, an assistant professor in the Sam Walton College of Business, focuses on the role of strategic communication and public information in the buying and selling of stocks. He discusses his research in this month's Short Talks from the Hill.

In an earlier study, Rawson and his colleagues discovered that corporate insiders with operations in China were more likely to sell their stock in the days leading up to the stock market crash following the coronavirus outbreak.

"We posit that this is because they were better able to incorporate and act upon public information about COVID before other investors," Rawson says in the podcast. "In other words, they not only heard the news about COVID, like the rest of us, they saw the impact that COVID was having on their own factories and supply chains and knew that it was going to be a big deal and pose a threat to their business."

You can also listen to Rawson discuss his research by clicking on the link above or by visiting arkansasresearch.uark.edu, the home of research and economic development news at the U of A.

Short Talks programming is available wherever you get your podcasts. Previous podcasts can be found at the link above.

Thank you for listening!

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