NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES INFORMATION DIFFUSION EFFECTS IN INDIVIDUAL INVESTORS ’ COMMON STOCK PURCHASES:

We extend our gratitude to an anonymous discount broker for providing the data on individual investors positions, trades, and demographics. Special thanks go to Terry Odean for his help in obtaining and understanding the data set. Both authors acknowledge the financial support from the College Research Board at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. We thank Jean Roth of the NBER for assistance with the 1990 Census data. Finally, we thank seminar participants at the Univesity of Florida and the University of Illinois for their comments and feedback. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Bureau of Economic Research