Industry-Wide Disclosure Dynamics

The article discusses the effects of a firm's voluntary disclosures on other firms. When Citibank reported the level of default on its Third World loans other banks followed with similar announcements. Following the write-off of Chambers Development for their waste disposal arrangements other waste management firms did the same. These disclosures were attempts to influence the financial market's assessment of the value of the firms rather than the product market behavior by management. Also, the disclosure dynamics of a firm's selection of a disclosure policy is related to its expected price.