Using Privileged Information to Manipulate Markets: Insiders, Gurus, and Credibility

S-Tier
Journal: Quarterly Journal of Economics
Year: 1992
Volume: 107
Issue: 3
Pages: 921-958

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Access to private information is shown to generate both the incentives and the ability to manipulate asset markets through strategically distorted announcements. The fact that privileged information is noisy interferes with the public's attempts to learn whether such announcements are honest; it allows opportunistic individuals to manipulate prices repeatedly, without ever being fully found out. This leads us to extend Sobel's [1985] model of strategic communication to the case of noisy private signals. Our results show that when truthfulness is not easily verifiable, restrictions on trading by insiders may be needed to preserve the integrity of information embodied in prices.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:qjecon:v:107:y:1992:i:3:p:921-958.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24