Short Sale Constraints and Stock Returns

Charles Jones and Owen Lamont

No 8494, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Stocks can be overpriced when short sale constraints bind. We study the costs of short selling equities, 1926-1933, using the publicly observable market for borrowing stock. Some stocks are sometimes expensive to short, and it appears that stocks enter the borrowing market when shorting demand is high. We find that stocks that are expensive to short or which enter the borrowing market have high valuations and low subsequent returns, consistent with the overpricing hypothesis. Size-adjusted returns are one to two percent lower per month for new entrants, and despite high costs it is profitable to short them.

JEL-codes: G14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fmk
Note: AP
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Published as Jones, Charles M. and Owen A. Lamont. "Short-Sale Constraints and Stock Returns." Journal of Financial Economics 66, 2-3 (November-December 2002): 207-39.

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