Investigates how investment bankers use indications of interest from client investors to price and allocate new issues. Investors who buy initial public offerings (IPOs) can achieve sizable early returns. Recent research rationalizes this apparent contradiction to market efficiency as a response...

We develop and test a theory explaining the equilibrium matching of issuers and underwriters. We assume that issuers and underwriters associate by mutual choice, and that underwriter ability and issuer quality are complementary. Our model implies that matching is positive assortative, and that...