Bans on the short selling of financial securities, such as stocks and government bonds, lead to prices that are further, on average, from their fundamental values.
Responses
© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
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Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
© 2025. Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets.
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Participant |
University |
Vote |
Confidence |
Bio/Vote History |
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![]() Daron Acemoglu |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
I think this would depend on the type of mispricing. E.g., heterogeneous priors with shortselling can lead to wide swings in prices.
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![]() Alberto Alesina |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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![]() Joseph Altonji |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Alan Auerbach |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() David Autor |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Katherine Baicker |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Marianne Bertrand |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Raj Chetty |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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![]() Judith Chevalier |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
I would have said strongly, but there may be instances where one could use other securities to synthesize or mimic the short.
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![]() Janet Currie |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() David Cutler |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Angus Deaton |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Darrell Duffie |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
Restricted trade on one side of the market, if binding, by definition prevents matching supply with demand, and thus "fundamental" prices.
-see background information here |
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![]() Aaron Edlin |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
Even with short selling, it can be hard to stop a bubble. Without it, well...
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![]() Barry Eichengreen |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Ray Fair |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Pinelopi Goldberg |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Claudia Goldin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Austan Goolsbee |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Michael Greenstone |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
more impt question is whether shorts produce info that improve firm governance. mandatory disclosure rules raise firm profits & stock price
-see background information here |
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Robert Hall |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
If short selling is lawful and fraud is not prosecuted, there is a big opportunity to spread fraudulent rumors and gain by shorting.
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![]() Bengt Holmström |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
On average definitely. By the nature of learning processes, not always.
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![]() Caroline Hoxby |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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![]() Kenneth Judd |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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![]() Anil Kashyap |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
This desperate policy does not work. See Geanakoplos for the dangers of leverage and the inability to short in producing instability.
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![]() Pete Klenow |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
![]() Edward Lazear |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
Most studies that I have seen indicate that banning short selling has no effect on average price, but does lead to higher variance
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![]() Jonathan Levin |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
Seems logical as a matter of economic theory. As a matter of practice, I don't know the relevant evidence.
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![]() Eric Maskin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() William Nordhaus |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
Subject to the qualification of market corners.
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![]() Maurice Obstfeld |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
I can imagine different scenarios, and I don't believe there is clear-cut empirical evidence.
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![]() Cecilia Rouse |
Princeton | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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![]() Emmanuel Saez |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() José Scheinkman |
Columbia University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Richard Schmalensee |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
If they have any effect, it's got to be in that direction.
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![]() Hyun Song Shin |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() James Stock |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Nancy Stokey |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
I've never seen any evidence on this point.
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![]() Richard Thaler |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
If Bob Shiller had succeeded in making it possible to short real estate markets, some of the bubbles might have been abated.
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![]() Christopher Udry |
Northwestern | Bio/Vote History | ||
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![]() Luigi Zingales |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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