TY  - JOUR
AU  - Shiller,Robert J.
AU  - Pound,John
TI  - Survey Evidence on Diffusion of Investment Among Institutional Investors
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1851
PY  - 1986
Y2  - March 1986
DO  - 10.3386/w1851
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1851
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1851.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Robert J. Shiller
Yale University, Cowles Foundation
Box 208281
30 Hillhouse Avenue
New Haven, CT  06520-8281
Tel: 203/432-3708
Fax: 203/432-6167
E-Mail: robert.shiller@yale.edu

John C. Pound
AB  - Contagion or epidemic models of financial markets are proposed in which interest in or attention to individual stocks is spread by word of mouth. The models give alternative interpretations of the random walk character of stock prices. A questionnaire survey of institutional investors was undertaken to ascertain the relevance of such models. Questions elicited what fraction of these investors were unsystematic and allowed themselves to be influenced by word-of-mouth communications or other salient stimuli. Rough indications of the infection rate and removal rate were produced. Investors in stocks whose price had recently increased dramatically to a high P/E ratio were contrasted with a control group of investors.
ER  -