Municipal bonds trade in opaque, decentralized broker-dealer markets in which price information is costly to gather. Whether dealers in such a market operate competitively is an empirical issue, but a difficult one to study. Data in such markets is generally not centrally recorded. We analyze a...

Municipal bonds are often "advance refunded." Bonds that are not yet callable are defeased by creating a trust that pays the interest up to the call date, and pays the call price. New debt, generally at lower interest rates, is issued to fund the trust. Issuing new securities generally has zero...

Municipal bonds are often "advance refunded." Bonds that are not yet callable are defeasedby creating a trust that pays the interest up to the call date, and pays the call price. Newdebt, generally at lower interest rates, is issued to fund the trust. Issuing new securitiesto fund payments on...