Length of IPO Prospectus and Individual Investors’ Demand for IPO Shares

Prior studies on readability suggest that lengthy corporate reports are difficult to process and may discourage investors’ capital market participation. However, longer reports that contain additional information may actually benefit individual investors, who typically rely on public information. Using a regulatory change that requires firms to disclose additional items in the IPO prospectus, we find that the new regulation increased individual investors’ demand for IPO stocks with longer prospectuses. These results suggest that lengthy reports do not always reduce investor demand, highlighting a potential trade-off between the costs and benefits of longer corporate reports.