A study from the Hong Kong University Business School suggests that Freedom of Information Act requests aren’t just tools for transparency – they can also move markets.

Researchers analyzed 22,724 FOIA requests made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) between 2006 and 2022. They tracked stock market behavior of publicly traded companies following the filing of different kinds of FOIA requests from different types of requesters.

The takeaway: FOIA requests tied to investigations into companies tend to be followed by stock price declines of around 2.4%, with even steeper drops averaging 3.4% when the requester is anonymous.

The study also found that FOIA requests filed by investment firms themselves often correlate with a 9.2% increase in the targeted company’s stock price. Requests related to intellectual property also tended to boost returns.

Posted: July 17, 2025
Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: Brechner FOI Project, Brechner Freedom of Information Project, FOI, FOIA, open records laws, public records