Short-selling Bans and the Global Financial Crisis: Are They Interconnected?

This paper begins with the observation that short-selling bans spread globally in 2008. We find some evidence that the bans were unsuccessful at least insofar as they did not take into account the global component a short-selling ban which reduced equity returns in about a third of the 17 countries sampled, most notably in some of the major advanced economies. In the individual countries we examine, the bans had relatively little impact. Our results are suggestive as evidence that the bans stemmed further deterioration in stock prices that policy makers sought to avoid, at least in a few economies.