Blinded by the Light: Information Overload and Its Consequences for Securities Regulation

The tone of this Article and its policy suggestions are necessarily tentative. The concerns about information overload expressed here are part of a larger trend considering how our growing understanding of investor psychology and behavioral finance might impact securities regulation. Before arguing for major regulatory reform, there is still much to be learned about information overload and about investor psychology and behavioral finance generally. Indeed, I ultimately call for more empirical research to better understand how investors process information and make investment decisions.

My goal here is to highlight that information overload is a real concern that should not be ignored.