David S. Kidwell, Technological and Regulatory Forces in the Developing Fusion of Financial- Services Competition: Discussion, The Journal of Finance, Vol. 39, No. 3, Papers and Proceedings, Forty-Second Annual Meeting, American Finance Association, San Francisco, CA, December 28-30, 1983 (Jul., 1984), pp. 772-773

We examine the cost differences between public sales and private placements of debt for a sample of public utility issues. The lowest cost method depends on a firm's transaction costs which comprise flotation costs, agency costs, and the costs of searching the market. Our findings suggest that firms minimize the cost of issuing securities by selecting the market providing the lowest transaction costs.

This paper presents evidence that the yield differential between revenue bonds and similar general obligation bonds varies contracyclically with the level of economic activity. The evidence also indicates that significant investor‐borrower induced market segmentation exists in the municipal bond market. An increase in the relative demand by commercial banks for tax‐exempt securities and/or an increase in the supply of revenue bonds relative to the supply of general obligation bonds increase the yield spread between the two classes of debt. These findings were the result of a series of empirical tests with both macroeconomic and microeconomic data.

This paper presents evidence that the yield differential between revenue bonds and similar general obligation bonds varies contracyclically with the level of economic activity. The evidence also indicates that significant investor-borrower induced market segmentation exists in the municipal bond market. An increase in the relative demand by commercial banks for tax-exempt securities and/or an increase in the supply of revenue bonds relative to the supply of general obligation bonds increase the yield spread between the two classes of debt. These findings were the result of a series of empirical tests with both macroeconomic and microeconomic data.

David S. Kidwell, Eric H. Sorensen, John M. Wachowicz, Jr., Estimating the Signaling Benefits of Debt Insurance: The Case of Municipal Bonds, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Sep., 1987), pp. 299-313

Controversy surrounds the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Rule 415 that went into effect in March 1982 and remained an experiment until it was permanenty adopted for large firms in November 1983. Rule 415allows a company to register all the securities it plans to issue over the next two years and then to sell someor all of the securities whenever it chooses. This procedure is known as a shelf registration. The purposes of Rule 415 are to simplify the registration of new corporate securities and to allow more flexibility in the way issues are underwritten.

David S. Kidwell, Charles A. Trzcinka, The Impact of the New York City Fiscal Crisis on the Interest Cost of New Issue Municipal Bonds, The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Sep., 1983), pp. 381-399