We compare fees charged by investment banks for conducting IPOs in the U.S. and Europe. In recent years the “7% solution”, as documented by Chen and Ritter (2000), has become even more prevalent in the U.S., and is now the norm for IPOs raising up to $250m. The same banks dominate both...

Equity options exchanges in the United States use one of two models to execute marketable orders: the maker-taker model or the payment for order flow (PFOF) model. Exchanges utilizing the maker-taker model charge liquidity demanders a taker fee to access their liquidity. Exchanges utilizing the...

This paper contrasts UK and US governance of M&A break fees to see what the contrast can teach us about trade-offs between litigation and regulation as modes of governance, including how laws change under each regime over time. Data on 1,136 bids in 1989-2008 and 61 fee disputes show: (1) the UK...

The distribution strategies of mutual funds directly or indirectly affect both their growth and their revenues. The extent of resources dedicated by a fund to its distribution channel(s) is therefore an important strategic decision. For a sample of US diversified equity mutual funds in the...

In the last five years, the D.C. Circuit has considered multiple cases regarding the scope of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)'s power to regulate tax return preparers. In the most recent case, Montrois v. United States, the court held that the IRS has statutory authority to require tax return...

Stock exchange operators compete for order flow by setting "make" fees for limit orders and "take" fees for market orders. When traders quote continuous prices, they can choose prices that perfectly neutralize any fee division, and traders stream to the exchange with the lowest total fee. The...