Publication Bias and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns
73 Pages Posted: 6 Jun 2018 Last revised: 1 Jul 2021
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Publication Bias and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns
Date Written: May, 2018
Abstract
We develop an estimator for publication bias and apply it to 156 hedge portfolios based on published cross-sectional return predictors. Publication bias adjusted returns are only 12% smaller than in-sample returns. The small bias comes from the dispersion of returns across predictors, which is too large to be accounted for by data-mined noise. Among predictors that can survive journal review, a low t-stat hurdle of 1.8 controls for multiple testing using statistics recommended by Harvey, Liu, and Zhu (2015). The estimated bias is too small to account for the deterioration in returns after publication, suggesting an important role for mispricing.
JEL Classification: G10, G12
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation