Unexpected tax refunds and capital market efficiency: Evidence from the German nuclear fuel tax
研究了德国宪法法院2017年一项裁决导致核电站运营商获得意外税收退款后，资本市场在反应幅度和速度上的效率，发现股价在几天内完全吸收信息，且大部分异常回报在裁决公布后一分钟内实现。
We investigate the efficiency of capital markets in reacting to a ruling of the German Constitutional Court in 2017, which led to a large unexpected tax refund for the three German-based operators of nuclear power plants. Unlike events used by prior research, this unique firm-specific event allows us to assess both, the magnitude and speed of the market reaction. With regard to magnitude, we find that the tax refund is fully impounded into stock prices within a few trading days after the court ruling. When investigating the speed of the market reaction more granularly, we show that 63% to 82% of the entire abnormal returns of the event date are already realized within the first minute after the announcement of the court ruling and, moreover, that significant market reactions occur even within 5 to 15 s. • Markets react efficiently to new information in terms of both magnitude and speed. • New information is fully impounded into stock prices within a few trading days. • Most of the abnormal returns of the event date are realized within the first minute. • Significant market reactions occur even within seconds.