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Locked-in at home: The gender difference in analyst forecasts after the COVID-19 school closures

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: This paper explores the shock of school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to study the effect of childcare responsibilities on analyst forecasts. With manually collected data on whether analysts have children, I find that female analysts with children (mother analysts) are less likely to issue timely forecasts after school closures, compared to male analysts with children (father analysts). Mother analysts’ forecasts also become less accurate after school closures, but the negative effect only exists among forecasts for firms with relatively low institutional ownership, suggesting that mother analysts prioritize maintaining the forecast accuracy for firms that are more important to their careers. Additionally, mother analysts shift forecast release times to avoid childcare hours. My findings imply that childcare responsibilities hurt the productivity of mother analysts more than that of father analysts, even though these women have established themselves in a competitive industry.

Source: Journal of Accounting and Economics

DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2023.101603

Author: Mengqiao Du

Institution: National University of Singapore

Language: English

Topic: Auditing, Earnings Management, Governance

Subfield: Accounting

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Gender equality

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,340