We use a survey of directors to collect data on their ratings of board effectiveness as well as board internal dynamics and key processes. Controlling for many of the governance metrics examined by prior research, we find that directors' ratings of their boards' effectiveness are positively...

It is 2010 and Sidoti & Company, a New York-based brokerage firm specializing in small capitalization stocks, has just launched a new product - micro-cap stock research. The firm has hired a group of five analysts who will produce written research reports on micro-cap stocks, that is, publicly...

Research optimism among securities analysts has been attributed to incentives provided by underwriting activities. We examine how analysts' forecast optimism varies with the business activities used to fund research. We find that analysts at firms with underwriting and trading businesses are...

Wall Street Research: Past, Present, and Future provides a timely account of the dramatic evolution of Wall Street research, examining its rise, fall, and reemergence. Despite regulatory, technological, and global forces that have transformed equity research in the last ten years, the industry...

It was June 2011 and Alexander Saint-Amand, President and CEO of Gerson Lehrman Group, the largest expert network firm globally, has found his firm once again in the midst of controversy. This controversy centered around a number of insider trading cases that had been brought against consultants...

It is 2010 and Guillermo Araoz, the equity research director at Morgan Asset Management (MAM), is considering his research budget for the year. Due to recent declines in the equity markets and MAM's sale of its mutual funds business, MAM has seen a decline in its assets under management, and...

In 2003, in the midst of industry turmoil and company-specific challenges, Stefano Natella was named Global Head of Equity Research at Credit Suisse. Over a six year period, Natella implemented and refined a new methodology for valuing equity research analysts, both individually and as a...