Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-26-2025
Abstract
Using individual records of about 950,000 financial advisors, we find that the probability and intensity of financial advisor misconduct significantly increase after local newspaper closures. The impact is more pronounced in counties with a higher proportion of seniors, minorities, and individuals with lower education levels. Male advisors are more likely to commit misconduct following newspaper closures than female advisors. The sensitivity of advisors’ job turnover to misconduct decreases after closures, suggesting a lower cost of committing misconduct. Our evidence indicates that local newspapers play a distinct role in mitigating financial advisor misconduct, as media exposure raises the costs of misbehavior.
Recommended Citation
Li, Z., Peng, Q., & Zhang, R.-Z. (R. Z. ). (2025). When Spotlights Fade: Local Newspaper Closures and Financial Advisor Misconduct. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 1–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109025101749
Peer Reviewed
1
Copyright
The authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Finance and Financial Management Commons
Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis in 2025 following peer review. This article may not exactly replicate the final published version. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109025101749.
The Creative Commons license below applies only to this version of the article.