Financial Market Intermediaries and Information Asymmetry in Equity Markets

Abstract

This dissertation examines the relationship between financial market intermediaries and information asymmetry. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 re-examines issues raised in the literature, but extends this research by using unique datasets not previously available to researchers. Overall, the results show that (i) market intermediaries help reduce information asymmetry in upstairs markets by filtering out information-motivated trades, (ii) market intermediaries produce information which is valuable to clients who are able to trade ahead of the market, and iii) market intermediaries are heterogeneously informed, and are therefore affected differently by a change in market structure.