We use a large pictorial sample of Chinese financial analysts to test the association between facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) and performance in men. Financial analysts offer an ideal setting for our investigation because we can objectively track individual analysts' behaviors and performance. We find that high-fWHR analysts are more likely to conduct corporate site visits and they X. HE ET AL. exhibit better performance. The positive fWHR-performance association survives a battery of robustness checks and the association is more pronounced for analysts with lower status, for firms with higher uncertainty, and for analysts facing more intense competition. Our results suggest that the dominant trait predicted by fWHR is achievement drive. JEL codes: M20; M40; M41; M50

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We argue that financial analysts can be viewed as participants of two tournaments (the "All-star" tournament and the intrafirm tournament) and examine whether analysts are incentivized by the tournament compensation structure. Using data from 1991 to 2007, we find that interim losers are more likely to increase the boldness of their forecasts in the remainder of the tournament period than interim winners. This finding survives several robustness checks and is more pronounced when the interim assessment date is closer to the end of the tournament period, when analysts are inexperienced, and when the market activity is high. In addition, we show that interim losers' changes in boldness are less informative than interim winners'. Collectively, our findings suggest that viewing financial analysts as participants of tournaments provides a useful framework for understanding analysts' behavior.

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