Competition and the Structure of Vertical Relationships in Capital Markets

50 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2005 Last revised: 18 May 2010

See all articles by John Asker

John Asker

UCLA

Alexander Ljungqvist

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Swedish House of Finance; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Multiple version iconThere are 4 versions of this paper

Date Written: March 3, 2010

Abstract

We show that information flows between investment banks and firms issuing securities affect the pattern of bank-firm relationships and that shocks to these information flows affect the real economy. Firms appear disinclined to share investment banks with other firms in the same industry, but only when the firms engage in product-market competition. This is consistent with concerns about the disclosure of commercially sensitive information to strategic rivals governing firms’ investment bank choices. Using exogenous shocks to information flows arising from mergers among banks, we show that the desire to avoid sharing investment banks has a substantial effect on affected firms’ investment in capital stock. We discuss how these information effects might help us understand how the investment banking industry is structured, how banks compete, and how prices are set.

Keywords: Investment banking, Securities underwriting, Competition, Bank deregulation, Bank entry, Glass-Steagall Act, Commercial banks

JEL Classification: G21, G24, G28, K22, L11, L14, L84

Suggested Citation

Asker, John William and Ljungqvist, Alexander and Ljungqvist, Alexander, Competition and the Structure of Vertical Relationships in Capital Markets (March 3, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1012083 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1012083

John William Asker

UCLA ( email )

8283 Bunche Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1477
United States

Alexander Ljungqvist (Contact Author)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Swedish House of Finance ( email )

Drottninggatan 98
111 60 Stockholm
Sweden

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

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