The starting point for the analysis is the firm-level reporting frequency data described in Butler et al. (2007). Their
primary source for determining how frequently firms published financial statements during the 1951–1973 period was the
index to the annual edition of Moody’s Industrial News Reports. The following firms are excluded from their sample: firms
not listed on either the NYSE or AMEX; firms lacking CRSP or Compustat data; and firms in industries with distinctive
disclosure requirements (e.g., utilities; financial service, insurance, and real estate firms; and railroad and other
transportation companies). For our regression analysis, we require further that all variables included in both the firstand
second-stage regressions of the 2SLS procedure to be non-missing, except the EP ratio and the cost of equity (COE
hereafter) measure based on the Fama-French three-factor model.
13
Our sample consists of 7654 firm-year observations
for the period 1951–1973.