We investigate bank opaqueness by looking at the frequency of large, negative, market-adjusted returns (crashes). We analyze crashes on a sample of US stocks traded in the 1990-2007 period. Jin and Myers (2006) predict that opaqueness coupled with weak investors' protection generate more...

The question of whether banks are relatively more opaque than non-banking firms is empirically investigated by analyzing the disagreement between rating agencies (split ratings) on 2,473 bonds issued by European firms during the 1993-2003 period. Four main results emerge from the empirical...

The question of which factors are relevant in determining bond underwriting fees is empirically investigated by analyzing 2,202 bond issues completed by European firms during the 1993-2003 period. Four major results emerge from the analysis. First, the introduction of the single currency in 1999...

The question of whether banks are relatively more opaque than non-banking firms is empirically investigated by analyzing the disagreement between rating agencies (split ratings) on 2,473 bonds issued by European firms during the 1993-2003 period. Four main results emerge from the empirical...

Research Question/Issue: The level and effectiveness of investors' protection is considered to foster financial markets development and economic growth. While previous studies focused on the relationship between the institutional setting and investors' protection at country level, we investigate...

In this paper we analyze the factors that influence the target companies' choice of a bank advisor during a merger or acquisition process. Particularly we analyze the choice of hiring an advisor in the first place (non trivial since for more than one third of the mergers in our sample the target...

In this paper, we analyze the effect of search costs on mutual fund fee dispersion. Using a heteroscedastic regression model, we can quantify the portion of the expense ratio (net of 12b-1 fees) not justified by the quality of the service provided, the cost structure of the investment company or...

Do bond investors price hidden information? This paper addresses this question by using a heteroscedastic regression model to empirically examine the factors affecting the spread dispersion unexplained by easy-to-observe issue characteristics (credit ratings, size, maturity, etc.). First,...