Sleeplessness, distraction and stock market performance: Evidence from the world cup

Abstract

We study how sleeplessness and distraction impact global stock markets using a novel proxy, the FIFA World Cup games. Using this widely viewed sporting event, we exploit the time zone differences between countries to capture the sleeplessness from staying awake overnight and the distraction from watching matches during trading hours. We find the markets experience a −26 basis-point daily return for a day of sleeplessness and a −22 basis-point return due to distraction. These effects are robust to methodological changes.