Financial disclosure and regulation

A portfolio approach is used here to analyze the value of financial disclosure to stockholders and the need for disclosure regulation. This demonstrates that in a portfolio context the degree of public financial disclosure does not influence a firm's value. Hence, if disclosure is costly, firms have no incentive to disclose information voluntarily. Under partial disclosure, however, investors select inefficient portfolios, implying a substantial welfare loss; hence, we need regulation. The analysis provides a framework for determining optimal disclosure from the point of view of social welfare.