Abstracts Category : Other

Do customers learn from stock prices?

by Yue Ph Sun

This dissertation provides evidence that a firm's stock price movements affect its customer demand. I develop a model in which customers learn about a firm's product quality partially from its stock price. This learning induces feedback from the price to customer demand. Furthermore, the firm manager adjusts product launch decisions in anticipation of these demand shifts. Consistent with the model's implications, I find that non-fundamental price declines due to mutual fund redemptions reduce sales and online customer interest. This depressed demand is accompanied by a lower probability of product launches. My findings underscore the real effects of financial market prices.Advisors/Committee Members: Starks, Laura T. (advisor), Alti, Aydogan (committee member), Fracassi, Cesare (committee member), Sockin, Michael (committee member), Abrevaya, Jason (committee member).