Institutional Investors and Stock Market Volatility

Gabaix, Xavier; Gopikrishnan, Parameswaran; Plerou, Vasiliki; Stanley, H. Eugene

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Institutional Investors and Stock Market Volatility

NBER Working Paper No. w11722

52 Pages Posted: 18 Jan 2006 Last revised: 14 Jul 2022

See all articles by Xavier Gabaix

Xavier Gabaix

Harvard University - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Parameswaran Gopikrishnan

Boston University - Center for Polymer Studies

Vasiliki Plerou

Boston University - Center for Polymer Studies

H. Eugene Stanley

Boston University - Center for Polymer Studies

There are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 2005

Abstract

We present a theory of excess stock market volatility, in which market movements are due to trades by very large institutional investors in relatively illiquid markets. Such trades generate significant spikes in returns and volume, even in the absence of important news about fundamentals. We derive the optimal trading behavior of these investors, which allows us to provide a unified explanation for apparently disconnected empirical regularities in returns, trading volume and investor size.

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Gabaix, Xavier and Gopikrishnan, Parameswaran and Plerou, Vasiliki and Stanley, H. Eugene, Institutional Investors and Stock Market Volatility (November 2005). NBER Working Paper No. w11722, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=837165