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...

We examine whether the trading activities of retail and institutional investors cause comovements in stock returns. Around stock splits, retail trading correlations (RTCs) decrease with stocks in the presplit price range and increase with stocks in the post-split price range. These shifts in...

This study investigates whether retail and institutional investors concentrate their trading among certain stock categories (i.e., habitats) and whether their trading activities generate return comovements among stocks within those habitats. Our results indicate that both retail and...

This study shows that correlated trading by gambling-motivated investors generates excess return comovement among stocks with lottery features. Lottery-like stocks comove strongly with one another and this return comovement is strongest among lottery stocks located in regions where investors...

We use religious background as a proxy for gambling propensity and investigate whether geographical variation in religion-induced gambling norms affects aggregate market outcomes. We examine four economic settings in which the recent literature has suggested a role for gambling and speculation....