Does It Pay to Communicate with Firms? Evidences from Mutual Funds’Firm Visits

中南财经政法大学和华中科技大学双聘金融学教授，博士生导师。入选2014年中组部首批“青年拔尖人才计划”(国家“”)。研究领域为行为金融、公司金融。

Using a unique dataset on communication between mutual funds and listed firms in China, we investigate whether mutual funds can obtain private information or benefit from communications with firms. We find that: 1) Communication affects subsequent trades of mutual funds; 2) Trades of
mutual funds which rely on communications significantly predict unexpected earnings and firm performance, which is further supported by regressions that use the number of direct flights between two cities as instrument; 3) The information advantage mainly comes from the ability of
information interpretation; and 4) Investor attention and information environment exhibit significant marginal effects on communications.