ABSTRACT

Private equity real estate (PERE) markets suffer from information inefficiency. In this study, we examine if Google Trends could help in partially mitigating the inefficiency issues. Using monthly PERE investment activities in India between 2005 and 2017, and controlling for macroeconomic variables, we show that relevant search trends are significantly associated with future investment activities. Compared to domestic investors, foreign investors are subject to information asymmetry and their investment activity is particularly sensitive to political search trends in the target country. We detect a mutually causal association between investment activity and political searches. Although significant, the effect of political Google Trends on investment activity is short-lived and fades within two months.

摘要

私募股权房地产 (PERE) 市场受到信息效率低下的影响。在这项研究中，我们研究了 Google 趋势是否有助于部分缓解效率低下的问题。使用 2005 年至 2017 年间印度的每月 PERE 投资活动，并控制宏观经济变量，我们表明相关搜索趋势与未来投资活动显着相关。与国内投资者相比，外国投资者存在信息不对称，其投资活动对目标国家的政治搜索趋势特别敏感。我们发现投资活动和政治搜索之间存在相互因果关系。虽然意义重大，但政治 Google 趋势对投资活动的影响是短暂的，并在两个月内消退。