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Cultural diversity on Wall Street: Evidence from consensus earnings forecasts

Kenneth Merkley, Roni Michaely and Joseph Pacelli

Journal of Accounting and Economics, 2020, vol. 70, issue 1

Abstract: We examine how cultural differences among agents influence the aggregate outcome of a common forecasting task. Using both exogenous shocks to sell-side analyst diversity and panel regression methods, we find that increases in analyst cultural diversity positively affect the quality of the consensus earnings forecast. We further provide evidence on the potential mechanisms underlying this result by showing that cultural diversity is associated with improvements in individual analyst forecasts, greater analyst conference call participation and interaction, and greater diversity in analyst education backgrounds and professional interests. Overall, our results indicate that greater cultural differences among agents producing an aggregate forecast are associated with a higher quality consensus forecast.

Keywords: Diversity; Culture; Forecasting; Sell-side analysts; Information aggregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D80 G20 M40 M41 Z10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:70:y:2020:i:1:s016541012030032x

DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2020.101330

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Journal of Accounting and Economics is currently edited by J. L. Zimmerman, S. P. Kothari, T. Z. Lys and R. L. Watts

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