We test if issuers of asset- and mortgage-backed securities receive rating favors from agencies with which they maintain strong business relationships. Controlling for issuer fixed effects and a large set of credit risk determinants, we show that agencies publish better ratings for those issuers...

We develop a dynamic model of dealer intermediation between a monopolistic customerdealer (B2C) market and a competitive inter-dealer (B2B) market. Dealers face inventory constraints and adverse selection. We characterize the optimal quote setting and inventory management behavior for both...

The eurozone has a single short-term nominal interest rate, but monetary policy conditions measured by either real short-term interest rates or Taylor rule residuals varied substantially across countries in the period from 2003-2010. We use this cross-country variation in the (local) tightness...