A goal for stock exchanges is to increase participation by firms and investors. We show how specific features of the microstructure can reduce perceived ambiguity, and induce participation by both investors and issuers. We develop a model with sophisticated traders, who we view as expected...

type="main" <title type="main">ABSTRACT</title> <p>We investigate odd-lot trades in equity markets. Odd lots are increasingly used in algorithmic and high-frequency trading, but are not reported to the consolidated tape or in databases such as TAQ. In our sample, the median number of odd-lot trades is 24% but in some stocks...</p>

This paper provides an analysis of the nature and evolution of a dealer market for Nasdaq stocks. Despite size differences in sample stocks, there is a surprising consistency to their trading. One dealer tends to dominate trading in a stock. Markets are concentrated and spreads are increasing in...

This paper delineates the link between the existence of information, the timing of trades, and the stochastic process of prices. The authors show that time affects prices, with the time between trades affecting spreads. Because the absence of trades is correlated with volume, the authors' model...

This paper examines aftermarket trading of underwriters and unaffiliated market makers in the three-month period after an IPO. We find that the lead underwriter is always the dominant market maker; he takes substantial inventory positions in the aftermarket trading, and co-managers play a...

We investigate the role of information in affecting a firm's cost of capital. We show that differences in the composition of information between public and private information affect the cost of capital, with investors demanding a higher return to hold stocks with greater private information....

This paper examines the effects of price-contingent orders on security prices. The authors show that a market maker who knows the type and composition of trades will set larger spreads and adjust prices faster than if price-contingent orders were not allowed. Because traders have rational...

This paper examines the implications of market microstructure for asset pricing. I argue that asset pricing ignores the central fact that asset prices evolve in markets. Markets provide liquidity and price discovery, and I argue that asset pricing models need to be recast in broader terms to...