Topic: Does Ethnicity Similarity Affect Analysts Forecasts?
Speaker: Zichen TIAN
Date & Time: 10:00-11:00 January 18, 2026
Online Venue: Tecent Meeting #977-196-453
Organizers: School of Accounting, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics; Liaoning Province Capital Market Finance and Accounting Graduate Innovation and Academic Exchange Center
Abstract: I examine whether ethnicity similarity between sell-side analysts and corporate senior officers shapes analysts’ forecasting behavior. The baseline results show that ethnicity similarity is associated with higher forecast frequency and larger initial forecast errors. Cross-sectional evidence indicates that the effect attenuates when firms’ information transparency is higher, is amplified in more diversity-friendly settings, and does not fade with analyst–firm tenure. Importantly, I find that the larger initial forecast error induced by ethnicity similarity comes from overestimation and disappears for analysts’ last forecasts, consistent with bias coming from innate favoritism and dissipating as public information accumulates within the fiscal year. However, the market does not discount co-ethnic analysts’ first forecast revisions and reacts more strongly to their last forecast revisions within the fiscal year, suggesting that investors do not fully understand the implications of ethnicity similarity. Finally, I find that ethnicity similarity is positively associated with minority analysts’ access to management during conference calls and the likelihood of analyst coverage.
Introduction of Speaker:
Zichen TIAN, fully funded Ph.D. candidate in accounting at Singapore Management University, expected to graduate in June 2026. He holds a bachelor's degree from the Jinhe Center for Economic Research at Xi'an Jiaotong University and a master's degree from the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on auditing, analyst forecasts, regulatory institutions, and ESG assurance. He has published in Nankai Business Review and Managerial Auditing Journal, and has presented his work at the 24th China Empirical Accounting Symposium and the 2026 Journal of Contemporary Accounting & Economics (JCAE) Annual Symposium.
Special Attention:
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