Disclosing to Informed Traders

Abstract

We develop a model in which a firm's manager can voluntarily disclose to privately-informed investors. We show that, in equilibrium, the manager only discloses sufficiently favorable news. If the manager is known to be informed but disclosure is costly, the probability of disclosure increases with market liquidity and the stock trades at a discount relative to expected cash flows. However, when investors are uncertain about whether the manager is informed, disclosure can decrease with market liquidity, and the stock can trade at a premium relative to expected cash flows. Moreover, contrary to common intuition, ex-ante public information can crowd in more voluntary disclosure.

Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure, Trading, Price Efficiency, Private Information

JEL Classification: D72, D82, D83, G20