Religious beliefs, gambling attitudes, and financial market outcomes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kumar, Alok; Page, Jeremy K.; Spalt, Oliver G.
• 署名单位: University of Miami; Brigham Young University; Tilburg University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-405X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2011.07.001
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 671-708
• 关键词: gambling; religion; institutional investors; Employee stock option plans; ipos

摘要

This study investigates whether geographic variation in religion-induced gambling norms affects aggregate market outcomes. We conjecture that gambling propensity would be stronger in regions with higher concentrations of Catholics relative to Protestants. Consistent with our conjecture, we show that in regions with higher Catholic-Protestant ratios, investors exhibit a stronger propensity to hold lottery-type stocks, broad-based employee stock option plans are more popular, the initial day return following an initial public offering is higher, and the magnitude of the negative lottery-stock premium is larger. Collectively, these results indicate that religion-induced gambling attitudes impact investors' portfolio choices, corporate decisions, and stock returns. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.