Why Is the Fragmented Municipal Bond Market So Costly to Investors and Issuers?
梳理了美国市政债券市场中因信息不对称和激励冲突导致的高承销成本、交易加价等问题，并提出改进建议，适合关注债券市场效率的学者和从业者。
The municipal bond market plays a crucial role in providing capital to US municipalities and functions through a network of underwriters, municipal advisors, credit rating agencies, insurers, individual and institutional investors, and multiple regulators. Many of these market participants have significant asymmetric information and conflicting incentive structures, which can sometimes lead to disparate and seemingly inefficient outcomes. Puzzles documented in the academic literature include high underwriting costs, conflicting roles by municipal advisors, extreme and widely varying trade markups, investment holdings that are often not tax-efficient, inconsistent implied marginal tax rates, a heavy reliance on credit ratings, little benefit but widespread use of insurance, delayed use of call provisions, and inconsistent treatment of accounting information. We review issues in the municipal bond market and propose implementable suggestions that would hopefully allow for a more competitive and low-cost market for both taxpayers and investors.