IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/19358.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Twilight Zone: OTC Regulatory Regimes and Market Quality

Author

Listed:
  • Ulf Brüggemann
  • Aditya Kaul
  • Christian Leuz
  • Ingrid M. Werner

Abstract

We analyze a comprehensive sample of more than 10,000 U.S. OTC stocks. We provide much needed descriptive evidence on this market and show that the OTC market is a large, diverse, and dynamic trading environment with a rich set of regulatory and disclosure regimes, comprising venue rules and state laws beyond SEC regulation. We also exploit the institutional richness of the OTC market and analyze two key dimensions of market quality, liquidity and crash risk, across firms and regulatory regimes. We find that OTC firms that are subject to stricter regulatory regimes and disclosure requirements have higher market quality (higher liquidity and lower crash risk). Our analysis points to an important trade-off in regulating the OTC market and protecting investors: Lowering regulatory requirements (e.g., for disclosure) reduces the compliance burden for smaller firms, but also reduces market quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Ulf Brüggemann & Aditya Kaul & Christian Leuz & Ingrid M. Werner, 2013. "The Twilight Zone: OTC Regulatory Regimes and Market Quality," NBER Working Papers 19358, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19358
    Note: AP CF LE
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w19358.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Greenstone & Paul Oyer & Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, 2006. "Mandated Disclosure, Stock Returns, and the 1964 Securities Acts Amendments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(2), pages 399-460.
    2. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 2003. "Differences of Opinion, Short-Sales Constraints, and Market Crashes," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(2), pages 487-525.
    3. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2001. "Forecasting crashes: trading volume, past returns, and conditional skewness in stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 345-381, September.
    4. Harris, Jeffrey H. & Panchapagesan, Venkatesh & Werner, Ingrid, 2008. "Off but Not Gone: A Study of Nasdaq Delistings," Working Paper Series 2008-6, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    5. Pastor, Lubos & Stambaugh, Robert F., 2003. "Liquidity Risk and Expected Stock Returns," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 642-685, June.
    6. James C. Brau & Gardner Gee, 2010. "Micro-IPOs: An Analysis of the Small Corporate Offering Registration (SCOR) Procedure with National Data," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 14(3), pages 69-89, Fall.
    7. Leuz, Christian, 2007. "Was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 really this costly? A discussion of evidence from event returns and going-private decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1-2), pages 146-165, September.
    8. Leuz, Christian & Triantis, Alexander & Yue Wang, Tracy, 2008. "Why do firms go dark? Causes and economic consequences of voluntary SEC deregistrations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 181-208, August.
    9. Jonathan Macey & Maureen O'Hara & David Pompilio, 2008. "Down and Out in the Stock Market: The Law and Economics of the Delisting Process," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(4), pages 683-713, November.
    10. Bushee, Brian J. & Leuz, Christian, 2005. "Economic consequences of SEC disclosure regulation: evidence from the OTC bulletin board," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 233-264, June.
    11. Marosi, András & Massoud, Nadia, 2007. "Why Do Firms Go Dark?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(2), pages 421-442, June.
    12. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    13. Andrew Ang & Assaf A. Shtauber & Paul C. Tetlock, 2013. "Asset Pricing in the Dark: The Cross-Section of OTC Stocks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(12), pages 2985-3028.
    14. repec:bla:jfinan:v:44:y:1989:i:1:p:1-17 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Bourveau & Emmanuel T. De George & Atif Ellahie & Daniele Macciocchi, 2022. "The Role of Disclosure and Information Intermediaries in an Unregulated Capital Market: Evidence from Initial Coin Offerings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 129-167, March.
    2. Gandal, Neil & Hamrick, JT & Moore, Tyler & Oberman, Tali, 2018. "Price manipulation in the Bitcoin ecosystem," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 86-96.
    3. Thewissen, James & Shrestha, Prabal & Torsin, Wouter & Pastwa, Anna M., 2022. "Unpacking the black box of ICO white papers: A topic modeling approach," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Han, Song & Huang, Alan Guoming & Kalimipalli, Madhu & Wang, Ke, 2022. "Information and liquidity of over-the-counter securities: Evidence from public registration of Rule 144A bonds," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 59(PB).
    5. Song Han & Alan G. Huang & Madhu Kalimipalli & Ke Wang, 2018. "Information and Liquidity of OTC Securities : Evidence from Public Registration of Rule 144A Bonds," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2018-061, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Ryan Davis & Todd Griffith & Brian Roseman & Serhat Yildiz, 2021. "The effects of exchange listing on market quality: Evidence from over‐the‐counter uplistings," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 645-669, November.
    7. Pastwa, Anna M. & Shrestha, Prabal & Thewissen, James & Torsin, Wouter, 2021. "Unpacking the black box of ICO white papers: a topic modeling approach," LIDAM Discussion Papers LFIN 2021018, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Finance (LFIN).
    8. Michael Ewens & Joan Farre-Mensa, 2022. "Private or Public Equity? The Evolving Entrepreneurial Finance Landscape," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 14(1), pages 271-293, November.
    9. Don M. Autore & Nicholas Clarke & Danling Jiang, 2021. "Blockchain speculation or value creation? Evidence from corporate investments," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(3), pages 727-746, September.
    10. Davis, Ryan & Griffith, Todd & Van Ness, Bonnie & Van Ness, Robert, 2023. "Modern OTC market structure and liquidity: The tale of three tiers," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Knyazeva, Anzhela, 2019. "Financial innovation in microcap public offerings," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 283-305.
    12. Olfa Berrich & Halim Dabbou, 2023. "Tunisian corporate bond market liquidity: a qualitative approach," Qualitative Research in Financial Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(5), pages 795-819, February.
    13. Aspris, Angelo & Foley, Sean & Svec, Jiri & Wang, Leqi, 2021. "Decentralized exchanges: The “wild west” of cryptocurrency trading," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ryan Davis & Todd Griffith & Brian Roseman & Serhat Yildiz, 2021. "The effects of exchange listing on market quality: Evidence from over‐the‐counter uplistings," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(4), pages 645-669, November.
    2. Davis, Ryan & Griffith, Todd & Van Ness, Bonnie & Van Ness, Robert, 2023. "Modern OTC market structure and liquidity: The tale of three tiers," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Silvio Vismara & Stefano Paleari & Jay R. Ritter, 2012. "Europe's Second Markets for Small Companies," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 18(3), pages 352-388, June.
    4. Andrew Ang & Assaf A. Shtauber & Paul C. Tetlock, 2013. "Asset Pricing in the Dark: The Cross-Section of OTC Stocks," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(12), pages 2985-3028.
    5. Coles, Jeffrey L., 2008. "Disclosure policy: A discussion of Leuz, Triantis and Wang (2008) on "going dark"," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 209-220, August.
    6. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    7. Doidge, Craig & Karolyi, G. Andrew & Stulz, René M., 2017. "The U.S. listing gap," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 464-487.
    8. Bessler, Wolfgang & Beyenbach, Johannes & Rapp, Marc Steffen & Vendrasco, Marco, 2021. "The global financial crisis and stock market migrations: An analysis of family and non-family firms in Germany," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    9. Glenn Boyle & Richard Meade, 2008. "Intra-country regulation of share markets: does one size fit all?," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 151-165, April.
    10. Leuz, Christian & Triantis, Alexander & Yue Wang, Tracy, 2008. "Why do firms go dark? Causes and economic consequences of voluntary SEC deregistrations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 181-208, August.
    11. Stefan Arping & Zacharias Sautner, 2013. "Did SOX Section 404 Make Firms Less Opaque? Evidence from Cross†Listed Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(3), pages 1133-1165, September.
    12. Constant Djama & Isabelle Martinez & Stéphanie Serve, 2012. "What do we know about delistings? A survey of the literature," Post-Print hal-00937899, HAL.
    13. Yaniv Konchitchki & Yan Luo & Mary L. Z. Ma & Feng Wu, 2016. "Accounting-based downside risk, cost of capital, and the macroeconomy," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-36, March.
    14. Stefan Arping & Zacharias Sautner, 2010. "Did the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 make Firms less Opaque? Evidence from Analyst Earnings Forecasts," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 10-129/2/DSF 5, Tinbergen Institute.
    15. Meng, Yongqiang & Shen, Dehua & Xiong, Xiong, 2023. "When stock price crash risk meets fundamentals," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    16. Kashefi Pour, Eilnaz & Lasfer, Meziane, 2013. "Why do companies delist voluntarily from the stock market?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 4850-4860.
    17. Lai, Kam-Wah & Leung, Patrick W., 2018. "Unintended consequences of securities regulation: Stock value loss upon potential involuntary delisting in Hong Kong," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 219-226.
    18. Yu, Haixu & Liang, Chuanyu & Liu, Zhaohua & Wang, He, 2023. "News-based ESG sentiment and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    19. Wen, Fenghua & Xu, Longhao & Ouyang, Guangda & Kou, Gang, 2019. "Retail investor attention and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    20. Craig Doidge & G. Andrew Karolyi & René M. Stulz, 2010. "Why Do Foreign Firms Leave U.S. Equity Markets?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1507-1553, August.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • K22 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Business and Securities Law
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • M4 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:19358. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.