This dissertation consists of two empirical essays on financial intermediation. In the first chapter, I study the relationship between investment banks' reputation and the price and quality of their underwriting services in the corporate bond market. In the existing literature, a key econometric...

The relation between investment bank reputation and the price and quality of bond underwriting services is studied here. After controlling for endogeneity in issuer-underwriter matching, I find that reputable banks obtain lower yields and charge higher fees, but issuers' net proceeds are higher....

We examine whether the quality differentials in earnings forecasts between reputable and nonreputable analysts vary with the severity of conflicts of interest. We measure personal reputation using the Institutional Investor All-American (AA) awards, and bank reputation using Carter-Manaster...

Using 1994–2009 data, we find that All-American (AA) analysts’ buy and sell portfolio alphas significantly exceed those of non-AAs by up to 0.6 % per month after risk-adjustments for investors with advance access to analyst recommendations. For investors without such access, top-rank AAs...

Using 1983-2002 U.S. data, we examine whether the quality differentials in earnings forecasts between reputable and non-reputable analysts vary as the severity of conflicts of interest varies. We measure personal reputation using the Institutional Investor All-American (AA) awards, and bank...

Using 1994-2009 data, we examine the relation between analysts' star status and their recommendation values. For investors with private, advance access to analyst recommendations (e.g., institutions), trading on All-American (AA) analysts' buy and sell recommendations yields significantly better...

One of the important issues in corporate finance is the rationale for and role of financial intermediaries. In the private equity setting, institutional investors are increasingly eschewing intermediaries in favor of direct investments. To understand the trade-offs in this setting, we compile a...

We examine 20 years of direct private equity investments by seven large institutions. These direct investments perform better than public market indices, especially buyout investments and those made in the 1990s. Outperformance by the direct investments, however, relative to the corresponding...