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Nobel Laureates

Measuring the Effects of Regulation with Stock Price Data


Volume: Volume 16, No. 2

Issue: Summer 1985

Pages: pp. 167-183

Authors: John J. Binder

Title: Measuring the Effects of Regulation with Stock Price Data

Abstract: This article examines the usefulness of stock returns in measuring the effects of regulation when the dates on which market expectations change are not known and standard sources, e.g., the Wall Street Journal, are used to choose announcement dates. Twenty major changes in regulatory constraint since 1887 are considered. Tests using either monthly or daily data are found to have surprisingly little ability to detect the effects of regulation. The evidence shows that formal regulatory announcements are generally anticipated in cases where it is unclear when expectations change.


JEL Classification

Economic History United States and North America History of Public Economic Policy all levels (0423)
Capital Markets Empirical Studies, Including Regulation (3132)
Economics of Regulation (6190)