Timely accurate information is good, but you’ve got to keep markets guessing too.
Sir, I refer to Philip Augar’s “For markets there is such a thing as too much information” February 2.
Indeed it is a very difficult topic. Even if you want markets to have information, you also need for markets to be guessing in order the keep them on their toes and in form. A market with perfect and timely information could soon lose some of its strength. Its analytical capacity would be much less appreciated and everything would tend to be boringly perfectly priced.
Closely related to this in 2007 I wrote “The dark side of knowledge”. In it I held that too much timely information could chip away at what good is often derived from blissful ignorance.
Also if you report on problems too soon, there will be less time available to correct these, and the curtain might be brought down much too early.
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