We show that the personal traits of analysts, as revealed by their political donations, influence their forecasting behavior and stock prices. Analysts who contribute primarily to the Republican Party adopt a more conservative forecasting style. Their earnings forecast revisions are less likely...

This study investigates whether the properties of sell-side analysts' earnings forecasts are associated with the adverse macroeconomic conditions that exist at the time of their initial hire or major promotion. We find that analysts who begin their career in an economic recession are more...

This study examines whether disruptive life events affect how analysts assess risk. We exploit the staggered arrival of hurricanes between 1996 and 2009 at analysts' office locations across the United States as a plausibly exogenous shock in the analysts' experience of disruptive life events. We...

We examine whether brokerage firms can identify differences in innate ability when hiring analysts. When the local unemployment rate is high, there will be a larger pool of job candidates per analyst job than when the unemployment rate is low. If brokerage houses can identify differences in...

Using the economic setting of sell-side equity analysts, we demonstrate that racial/ethnic diversity does not always help minority groups. Race/ethnicity of analysts influences their forecasting style and accuracy, where these accuracy differences primarily reflect the effects of brokerage...

This study examines whether sell-side equity analysts help the market assimilate information contained in global climate change. Using a new measure of firm sensitivity to climate change, we show that analysts located in states where firms exhibit greater sensitivity to abnormal temperature...