This study examines how familiarities between the main actors in the underwriting process affected the borrowing costs of municipal bonds in the primary market in California between 2001 and 2006. The author finds that familiarities play an important role in determining the borrowing costs of...

My research team collected cost of issuance information from Official Statements representing over 800 bond issuances since 2012. We found that costs of issuance including underwriter discounts averaged 1.02% of bond principal. Further, we found substantial variation in the sample, with six...

This paper reveals a non-monotonic impact of local mutual funds on municipal bond issuance. Offering yields are higher in states with open-end municipal bond funds, and with larger aggregate fund size. However, holding local fund size constant, yields are decreasing in the number of funds. Such...

I examine how transparency and inter-dealer trading affects prices investors pay in municipal bond offerings. Real-time trade reporting for municipal bonds started January 31, 2005. The dispersion of purchase prices fell sharply at that time. There was little impact on average markups for most...