Economic Consequences of Risk Disclosures: Evidence from Crowdfunding
研究了Kickstarter平台强制添加风险与挑战板块后，风险披露对支持者行为和创业者信息披露策略的影响，发现自愿风险披露降低了信息不对称。
ABSTRACT On September 20, 2012, the rewards-based crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.com added a “risks and challenges” section to all project pages. While the section header became a mandatory part of the platform, discussion of risks within that section is voluntary and unverified, making this setting particularly useful for identifying the effects of disclosure on both crowdfunders and entrepreneurs. Consistent with increased salience of risks, we find that backer support for high-risk projects decreases after the introduction of this section, but that lengthier risk disclosures mitigate this decrease in backer support. Further analysis reveals that creators who provide lengthier risk disclosures also increase other non-risk disclosures, and that these non-risk disclosures are primarily responsible for the increased backer support. Collectively, we provide evidence that the introduction of a voluntary and unverified risk disclosure reduced information asymmetry within this unregulated market. JEL Classifications: M41; G24; L15; R12; D03.