Using three natural experiments, we test the hypothesis that investor overconfidence produces
overpricing of high idiosyncratic volatility stocks in the presence of binding short-sale constraints.
We study three events: IPO lockup expirations, option introductions, and the 2008 short-sale ban
on financial firms. Consistent with our prediction, we show that when short-sale constraints are
relaxed, event stocks with high idiosyncratic volatility tend to experience greater price reductions,
as well as larger increases in trading volume and short interest, than those with low idiosyncratic
volatility. These results hold when we benchmark event stocks with non-event stocks with
comparable idiosyncratic volatility. Overall, our findings suggest that biased investor beliefs and
binding short-sale constraints contribute to idiosyncratic volatility overpricing.
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