Thesis advisor: Thomas Chemmanur / My dissertation is comprised of three chapters. In this first chapter, I study the effect of social connections on mutual fund investors' information production and accuracy of their signals. While connected investors have access to information in their social network (information diffusion effect), social connections also reduce their incentives to acquire costly information, since they can free ride on connected peers ("free riding on friends" effect). I find this negative "free riding on friends" effect of social connections dominates information diffusion effect in the mutual fund industry, using fund managers' connections built upon their prior career experiences. First, I find that connected funds are more likely to hold the same stocks and to trade in the same direction, relative to unconnected funds. Second, I find that funds with lower network centrality earn higher alphas, even after controlling for other fund and manager characteristics. A one-standard-deviation increase in eigenvector centrality predicts a decrease of 29-37 basis points in annualized fund alphas. Third, when I define a stock-level variable PMC (Peripheral minus Central) as the difference in average portfolio weights between peripheral funds and central funds, I find that stocks with higher PMC have significantly higher abnormal stock returns. A one-standard-deviation increase in PMC predicts an increase of 1.48%-1.52% in the next quarter risk-adjusted returns (annualized). Finally, I find that PMC predicts firms' future earnings surprises. In the second chapter, co-authored with Thomas Chemmanur, Yingzhen Li, and Jie Xie, we propose a "noisy signaling" hypotheses of open market share repurchase (OMSR) programs, where the equity market equilibrium that prevails after OMSR program announcements is a partial pooling rather than a fully separating equilibrium. We argue that two complementary mechanisms, namely, actual share repurchases by firms and information production by institutions, serve to reduce the residual equity market information asymmetry facing firms subsequent to OMSR program announcements. We test the implications of this noisy signaling hypothesis using transaction-level data on trading by institutions and by a subsample of identified hedge funds, and find strong support for the above hypothesis. In the third chapter, co-authored with Thomas Chemmanur, and Jiekun Huang, we analyze how the geographical locations of institutions affect their investments in IPOs and various characteristics of the IPOs that they invest in. We argue that institutions geographically close to each other may free-ride on each other's information when evaluating IPOs, resulting in IPOs dominated by geographically clustered institutions reflecting less accurate information signals compared to those dominated by geographically dispersed institutions. We find that the equity holdings of institutions in IPOs are influenced more by the investments made by neighboring institutions. We show that an increase in the geographical dispersion of the institutions investing in an IPO is associated with higher IPO price revisions, higher firm valuations at offering and secondary market, larger IPO initial returns, greater long-run post-IPO stock returns lower information asymmetry facing an IPO firm in the equity market. Finally, the predictive power of institutional trading post-IPO for subsequent long-run stock returns and earnings surprises for the first fiscal-year end after the IPO is greater for geographically isolated institutions compared to those that are geographically clustered. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

Thesis advisor: Thomas J. Chemmanur / My Ph.D. dissertation consists of three essays. The first essay examines the effect of hedge funds on target shareholder gains in leveraged buyouts (LBOs). I find that the initial buyout premium is increasing in the preannouncement presence of hedge funds, measured as the fraction of target equity held by hedge funds before the announcement. Using a geographic instrument for the presence of hedge fund, I find that this relationship persists even after controlling for endogeneity. I further show that this effect holds only for active hedge funds and long-term hedge funds, and is stronger for management-led LBOs than for third-party LBOs. Overall, the findings suggest that hedge funds protect target shareholder interests in LBOs by using their hold-out power. The second essay examines the relation between expected market volatility and the demand for liquidity in open-end mutual funds. The empirical results are consistent with precautionary motives for holding liquid assets, i.e., fund managers tilt their holdings more heavily toward liquid stocks when the market is expected to be more volatile. This dynamic preference for liquid stocks is more pronounced among small fund families, low-load funds, funds whose past performance has been unfavorable, funds with high return volatility, growth-oriented funds, and high-turnover funds. I further show that this type of behavior is valuable for fund investors during high volatility periods because it has led to significantly (both statistically and economically) higher subsequent abnormal returns. The third essay, co-authored with Thomas Chemmanur and Gang Hu, directly tests Brennan and Hughes' (1991) information production theory of stock splits by making use of a large sample of transaction-level institutional trading data. We compare brokerage commissions paid by institutional investors before and after a split, and relate the informativeness of institutional trading to brokerage commissions paid. We also compute realized institutional trading profitability net of brokerage commissions and other trading costs. Our results can be summarized as follows. First, both commissions paid and trading volume by institutional investors increase after a stock split. Second, institutional trading immediately after a split has predictive power for the firm's subsequent long-term stock return performance; this predictive power is concentrated in stocks which generate higher commission revenues for brokerage firms and is greater for institutions that pay higher brokerage commissions. Third, institutions make positive abnormal profits during the post-split period even after taking brokerage commissions and other trading costs into account; institutions paying higher commissions significantly outperform those paying lower commissions. Fourth, the information asymmetry faced by firms decreases after a split; the greater the increase in brokerage commissions after a split, the greater the reduction in information asymmetry. Overall, our results are broadly consistent with the implications of the information production theory. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

No description available.

No description available.

Dados governamentais abertos é resultado, de uma série de novas exigências da sociedade para com seus governos. Entre estas exigências pode-se citar a busca por uma maior transparência e participação na gestão dos recursos públicos, maior controle sobre a qualidade dos serviços prestados, além de uma maior responsabilização por parte de seus gestores sobre a utilização destes recursos. Os governos para tentar atender a estas exigências fazem uso dos recursos da tecnologia de informação e comunicação, assim surge à possibilidade da disponibilização de dados em formato aberto, que tem como premissas básicas a transparência, colaboração e inovação. O tema dados governamentais abertos assume grande importância, pois aproximadamente uma centena de países desenvolve iniciativas neste sentido. De forma paralela a este fato, gestores públicos enfrentam desafios na implementação de projetos de dados governamentais abertos, pois este requer múltiplas interações entre governos e sociedade e ainda não existe um entendimento disponível em guias, ferramentas ou teorias para lidar com a abertura de dados no setor público.Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal propor um modelo genérico de produção e utilização de informações sob a ótica conceitual da cadeia de valor; o modelo visa atender as necessidades do ecossistema brasileiro de dados governamentais abertos. A coleta de dados foi realizada através de entrevistas com membros de governos e da sociedade. Os resultados apontam que possíveis vantagens são visualizadas por membros de governos e da sociedade pela atuação em dados governamentais abertos. Os resultados confirmam a existência e necessidade da formação de redes entre governos e sociedades, bem como a importância de diversos atores da sociedade que atuam neste ecossistema, como fatores facilitadores ou motivadores para a realização de diversas atividades. Existem diversas barreiras ou fatores inibidores, em especial com questões relacionadas a legislação e qualidade da informação disponibilizada. O modelo proposto aponta atores e respectivas atividades, bem como quais fatores podem prover sustentabilidade ao desempenho das mesmas e indica como determinada atividade impacta as demais. De forma coerente as premissas da cadeia de valor, o modelo proposto contém atividades primárias e secundárias. / Open Government Data is the result of new demands from society towards their governments. Among these demands can cite search for greater transparency and participation in the management of public resources, greater control over the quality of services, and greater accountability on the part of its managers on the use of these resources.Governments to try to meet these demands make use resources of information technology and communications and the possibility arises of providing data in open format. Open Government Datahas the basic premises transparency, collaboration and innovation. The theme is of great importance because approximately one hundred countries are developing initiatives in this sense.Parallel to this fact, public managers has challenges in implementing initiatives of Open Government Data. This requires several interactions between governments and society and there is still no understanding available in guides, toolsor theories to deal with the opening of data in the public sector.This work aimed to propose a generic model of production and use of information in the conceptual view of the value chain. The model aims to meet the needs of the Brazilian ecosystem Open Government Data collection was conducted from interviews with government members and society.The results indicate that members from government and society realize benefits by acting in Open Government Data.The results confirm the existence and or need for networking among governments and societies.Actors from society that act as factors that facilitate or motivate for performing various activities by others actors.There are several barriers, specially with legal factors and information quality.The model indicates actors and their activities, and what factors can provide sustainability to the same performance and indicates how a particular activity impacts the others. Consistently the assumptions of the value chain, the model contains primary and secondary activities.

A tese que se apresenta tem por objetivo compreender o vínculo entre o extraordinário volume de vendas de obras de cunho erudito (literatura clássica, filosofia e teatro) em bancas de jornais e a estrutura editorial, publicitária e distributiva de uma grande empresa de comunicação. Para estudar a questão, estabelecemos: 1) as condições histórico-sociais que permitiram o crescimento de uma pequena editora, fundada por estrangeiros em São Paulo, capital, no final dos anos 1940; 2) as características materiais e textuais das publicações e sua intrínseca relação como condicionante do perfil de público a que eram destinadas; 3) o papel da máquina publicitária da Editora Abril e a competente capacidade de concepção e difusão de discursos promocionais, com eficaz teor persuasivo a segmentos específicos de consumidores; 4) as estratégias de distribuição editorial através das bancas de jornais, um canal distinto do legitimado espaço das livrarias. Conclui-se que, tendo em perspectiva um público pouco familiarizado com esse tipo de produto cultural; um país com precária estrutura produtiva para impressão de livros; um setor editorial com baixa tiragem média; e o reduzido hábito de leitura entre a população, os aspectos estabelecidos se coadunaram de maneira a possibilitar que o fenômeno alta tiragem e venda de livros ditos de \"alta cultura\" se efetivasse. / The aim of this thesis is to understand the link between the extraordinary volume of sales of scholarly works (classical literature, philosophy and theater) in newsstands and the editorial, advertising and distributive structure of a large communication company. To study the question, we established: 1) the social-historical conditions that allowed the growth of a small publishing house, founded by foreigners in the city of São Paulo, in the late 1940s; 2) the material and textual characteristics of the publications and their intrinsic relation as conditioning of the public profile to which they were destined; 3) the role of Editora Abril advertising machine and the ability to design and disseminate promotional speeches with effective persuasive content for specific segments of consumers; 4) the strategies of editorial distribution through newsstands, a distinct channel from the legitimate space of bookstores. It is concluded that, having in perspective an unfamiliar audience with this type of cultural product; a country with a poor production structure for book printing; an editorial sector with low average circulation; and the reduced habit of reading among the population, the established aspects were in line with each other so as to enable the high phenomenon of \"high culture\" books to be produced and sold.

A tese que se apresenta tem por objetivo compreender o vínculo entre o extraordinário volume de vendas de obras de cunho erudito (literatura clássica, filosofia e teatro) em bancas de jornais e a estrutura editorial, publicitária e distributiva de uma grande empresa de comunicação. Para estudar a questão, estabelecemos: 1) as condições histórico-sociais que permitiram o crescimento de uma pequena editora, fundada por estrangeiros em São Paulo, capital, no final dos anos 1940; 2) as características materiais e textuais das publicações e sua intrínseca relação como condicionante do perfil de público a que eram destinadas; 3) o papel da máquina publicitária da Editora Abril e a competente capacidade de concepção e difusão de discursos promocionais, com eficaz teor persuasivo a segmentos específicos de consumidores; 4) as estratégias de distribuição editorial através das bancas de jornais, um canal distinto do legitimado espaço das livrarias. Conclui-se que, tendo em perspectiva um público pouco familiarizado com esse tipo de produto cultural; um país com precária estrutura produtiva para impressão de livros; um setor editorial com baixa tiragem média; e o reduzido hábito de leitura entre a população, os aspectos estabelecidos se coadunaram de maneira a possibilitar que o fenômeno alta tiragem e venda de livros ditos de \"alta cultura\" se efetivasse. / The aim of this thesis is to understand the link between the extraordinary volume of sales of scholarly works (classical literature, philosophy and theater) in newsstands and the editorial, advertising and distributive structure of a large communication company. To study the question, we established: 1) the social-historical conditions that allowed the growth of a small publishing house, founded by foreigners in the city of São Paulo, in the late 1940s; 2) the material and textual characteristics of the publications and their intrinsic relation as conditioning of the public profile to which they were destined; 3) the role of Editora Abril advertising machine and the ability to design and disseminate promotional speeches with effective persuasive content for specific segments of consumers; 4) the strategies of editorial distribution through newsstands, a distinct channel from the legitimate space of bookstores. It is concluded that, having in perspective an unfamiliar audience with this type of cultural product; a country with a poor production structure for book printing; an editorial sector with low average circulation; and the reduced habit of reading among the population, the established aspects were in line with each other so as to enable the high phenomenon of \"high culture\" books to be produced and sold.

Submitted by Maike Costa (maiksebas@gmail.com) on 2016-02-12T14:27:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 4021623 bytes, checksum: 88358a309d43748bcf7bb4aa423419a0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-12T14:27:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 4021623 bytes, checksum: 88358a309d43748bcf7bb4aa423419a0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-26 / The flow of information in the newsroom of journalism companies poses challenges to professional journalists users of information, specifically in cases involving the news production. These methods comprise the steps of data collection; determination of fact; description of that information; and dissemination of information. In this set, we aimed to investigate the news production processes in journalistic units and their informativeness of conditions for construction of meaning. Therefore, we seek to specifically describe the information flows involving the construction of the news; identify the sources of information that subsidize the construction of the news in journalistic units and their reliability interfaces; check the political and social aspects that influence the organization and communication of news as significant structure; and examine the conditions of informativeness in production processes, communication and use of information in journalistic units. Its universe seven television stations holding public concession in the State of Paraíba: TV Correio (Record), TV Arapuã (TV Network), TV Tambaú (SBT), TV Cabo Branco (Globo), TV Clube (Band) TV Paraíba - (Globo) and TV Borborema (SBT). In the methodological procedures, we adopted the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD), proposed by Lefèvre and Lefèvre (2003), which reveals itself as an orderly and effective tool of communication, which is the basis of all social representations. The study presents a qualitative perspective, the approach deepens the investigation of the universe of meanings of human actions and relations, according to Minayo (1996), this approach is concerned with a level of reality that can not be quantified because it meets the nature of meanings, motives, aspirations, beliefs, values and attitudes, conditions indicated to choose the DSC method. During data collection, we used semi-structured oral interviews with text editors Mail Television System, affiliated to Rede Record in Paraíba and TV Club Band affiliate in Paraíba. The two companies have different aspects as culture, ideology and ratings. Although occupying different in that values the ideological currents, the condition of informativeness these journalistic units is similar on how to approach and editorial referrals. The results show that editorial control mechanisms cover political and economic forces, they regulate the flow of journalistic information. The reliability information is the result of this process, since it is shaped to suit individual interests and therefore the newspaper is diluted in the customary which reads the work ethic. Information sources that support data and journalistic facts become secondary, the spread of journalistic information once meets the reports and dictates of mercantile institutions, understood in this context as expressions of power from the design of Foucault (2012). These events indicate direct interference from political and economic forces in the construction of the meaning of information, so journalists are professionals under the umbrella of these organizations that, in turn, shape the daily events from their interests, compromising aspects of informativeness in production of news in journalistic units / O fluxo de informação nas redações das empresas de jornalismo impõe desafios aos profissionais jornalistas usuários da informação, especificamente, nos processos que envolvem a produção de notícia. Esses processos compreendem as etapas de recepção de dados; apuração do fato; descrição dos elementos informativos; e disseminação da informação. Nesse conjunto, objetivamos investigar os processos de produção de notícia em unidades jornalísticas e suas condições de informatividade para construção de sentidos. Para tanto, buscamos especificamente descrever os fluxos de informação que envolvem a construção da notícia; identificar as fontes de informação que subsidiam a construção da notícia nas unidades jornalística e suas interfaces de confiabilidade; verificar os aspectos políticos e sociais que influenciam na organização e comunicação da notícia enquanto estrutura significante; e examinar as condições de informatividade nos processos de produção, comunicação e uso da informação nas unidades jornalísticas. Tem como universo as sete emissoras de televisão detentoras de concessão pública, no Estado da Paraíba: TV Correio (Record), TV Arapuã (Rede TV), TV Tambaú (SBT), TV Cabo Branco (Globo), TV Clube (Band), TV Paraíba – (Globo) e TV Borborema (SBT). Nos procedimentos metodológicos, adotamos o Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo (DSC), proposto por Lefèvre e Lefèvre (2003), que se revela como um instrumento ordenado e eficaz de comunicação, que está na base de todas as representações sociais. O estudo apresenta-se numa perspectiva qualitativa, cuja abordagem aprofunda a investigação do universo dos significados das ações e relações humanas, conforme Minayo (1996), essa abordagem se preocupa com um nível de realidade que não pode ser quantificada, pois atende a natureza de significados, motivos, aspirações, crenças, valores e atitudes, condições indicadas para escolha do método DSC. Na coleta de dados, foram utilizadas entrevistas orais semi-estruturada com editores de texto do Sistema Correio de Televisão, afiliada a Rede Record na Paraíba e da TV Clube, afiliada Band na Paraíba. As duas empresas apresentam aspectos diferentes quanto à cultura, à ideologia e aos índices de audiência. Embora ocupem espaços diferentes no que preza as correntes ideológicas, a condição de informatividade nessas unidades jornalísticas é semelhante quanto à forma de abordagem e aos encaminhamentos editoriais. Os resultados evidenciam que mecanismos de controle editorial abarcam forças políticas e econômicas, estas regulam os fluxos da informação jornalística. A confiabilidade da notícia é resultante desse processo, uma vez que é modelada para atender a interesses individuais e, por conseguinte, é diluída a praxe jornalística no que reza a ética profissional. As fontes de informação que subsidiam dados e fatos jornalísticos tornam-se secundárias, uma vez a disseminação da informação jornalística atende aos informes e ditames das instituições mercantilizadas, compreendidas nesse contexto como dispositivos de poder a partir da concepção de Foucault (2012). Tais acontecimentos indicam a interferência direta das forças políticas e econômicas na construção do sentido da informação, logo os profissionais jornalistas estão sob a tutela dessas organizações que, por sua vez, dão forma aos acontecimentos cotidianos a partir de seus interesses, comprometendo aspectos de informatividade na produção de notícias nas unidades jornalísticas.

Dados governamentais abertos é resultado, de uma série de novas exigências da sociedade para com seus governos. Entre estas exigências pode-se citar a busca por uma maior transparência e participação na gestão dos recursos públicos, maior controle sobre a qualidade dos serviços prestados, além de uma maior responsabilização por parte de seus gestores sobre a utilização destes recursos. Os governos para tentar atender a estas exigências fazem uso dos recursos da tecnologia de informação e comunicação, assim surge à possibilidade da disponibilização de dados em formato aberto, que tem como premissas básicas a transparência, colaboração e inovação. O tema dados governamentais abertos assume grande importância, pois aproximadamente uma centena de países desenvolve iniciativas neste sentido. De forma paralela a este fato, gestores públicos enfrentam desafios na implementação de projetos de dados governamentais abertos, pois este requer múltiplas interações entre governos e sociedade e ainda não existe um entendimento disponível em guias, ferramentas ou teorias para lidar com a abertura de dados no setor público.Este trabalho teve como objetivo principal propor um modelo genérico de produção e utilização de informações sob a ótica conceitual da cadeia de valor; o modelo visa atender as necessidades do ecossistema brasileiro de dados governamentais abertos. A coleta de dados foi realizada através de entrevistas com membros de governos e da sociedade. Os resultados apontam que possíveis vantagens são visualizadas por membros de governos e da sociedade pela atuação em dados governamentais abertos. Os resultados confirmam a existência e necessidade da formação de redes entre governos e sociedades, bem como a importância de diversos atores da sociedade que atuam neste ecossistema, como fatores facilitadores ou motivadores para a realização de diversas atividades. Existem diversas barreiras ou fatores inibidores, em especial com questões relacionadas a legislação e qualidade da informação disponibilizada. O modelo proposto aponta atores e respectivas atividades, bem como quais fatores podem prover sustentabilidade ao desempenho das mesmas e indica como determinada atividade impacta as demais. De forma coerente as premissas da cadeia de valor, o modelo proposto contém atividades primárias e secundárias. / Open Government Data is the result of new demands from society towards their governments. Among these demands can cite search for greater transparency and participation in the management of public resources, greater control over the quality of services, and greater accountability on the part of its managers on the use of these resources.Governments to try to meet these demands make use resources of information technology and communications and the possibility arises of providing data in open format. Open Government Datahas the basic premises transparency, collaboration and innovation. The theme is of great importance because approximately one hundred countries are developing initiatives in this sense.Parallel to this fact, public managers has challenges in implementing initiatives of Open Government Data. This requires several interactions between governments and society and there is still no understanding available in guides, toolsor theories to deal with the opening of data in the public sector.This work aimed to propose a generic model of production and use of information in the conceptual view of the value chain. The model aims to meet the needs of the Brazilian ecosystem Open Government Data collection was conducted from interviews with government members and society.The results indicate that members from government and society realize benefits by acting in Open Government Data.The results confirm the existence and or need for networking among governments and societies.Actors from society that act as factors that facilitate or motivate for performing various activities by others actors.There are several barriers, specially with legal factors and information quality.The model indicates actors and their activities, and what factors can provide sustainability to the same performance and indicates how a particular activity impacts the others. Consistently the assumptions of the value chain, the model contains primary and secondary activities.

La présente thèse analyse l’incidence de la concurrence bancaire sur le coût et la qualité du crédit produit par les établissements de crédit. Plus précisément, les investigations empiriques menées dans le cadre de ce travail visent deux objectifs complémentaires. Tout d’abord, évaluer dans quelle mesure le degré de rivalité entre les banques influence la stratégie de tarification des banques et par conséquent le coût de financement des entreprises. Le second objectif de cette thèse consiste à étudier l’impact de la concurrence bancaire sur la manière dont les banques produisent de l’information privée sur leurs clients. Pour cela, nous procédons en deux étapes. En premier lieu, nous examinons l’influence du degré de rivalité entre les banques sur la nature des informations utilisées par les chargés d’affaires dans l’évaluation de la qualité des emprunteurs. En second lieu, nous vérifions l’implication de la concurrence bancaire dans la rupture des relations de long terme. Nous adoptons pour toutes les analyses conduites dans cette thèse une démarche permettant d’exploiter la complémentarité entre différents indicateurs de concurrence utilisés dans la littérature afin d’appréhender au mieux le niveau de rivalité entre les banques. Plusieurs résultats se dégagent des multiples analyses empiriques menées dans le cadre de ce travail. Premièrement, il ressort de nos investigations empiriques que le pouvoir de marché des institutions financières découle de deux sources distinctes: le poids de la banque dans la structure du marché local du crédit et le degré d’efficience de l’établissement de crédit. Par conséquent, l’incidence de la concurrence bancaire dépend de sa capacité à influencer la structure du marché local du crédit ou bien l’efficience des banques. De plus, nous montrons qu’au sein d’un marché bancaire concentré, l’existence de fortes rivalités entre les banques réduit le coût de financement des entreprises si ces dernières disposent d’une relation bancaire principale. Enfin, nous démontrons que la concurrence bancaire accroît la longévité des relations de clientèle et encourage les chargés d’affaires à produire plus d’informations privées sur les emprunteurs. Toutefois, il serait prudent au niveau des banques de suivre l’évolution des comportements des gestionnaires de relations bancaires en matière de production d’informations afin d’adapter les mesures incitatives à mettre en place pour garantir la pérennité de leurs comportements. / This thesis investigates the effect of banking competition on the cost and the quality of lending to firms by financial institutions. Specifically, the empirical analyzes conducted in this thesis aim to reach two complementary objectives. First, assessing the degree to which the rivalry between banks influences their pricing strategy and therefore the cost of corporate financing. The second objective of this thesis is to study the impacts of bank competition on the way banks generate private information about their customers. To this end we proceed in two steps. First, we investigate whether banking competition affects the type of information used by loan officers to assess borrower’s quality. Then, we check the involvement of bank competition in the termination of bank-firm relationships. We consider for all the analyzes conducted in this thesis an approach where the complementarity between different competition indicators used in the literature is exploited in order to better understand the level of rivalry among banks. Several results emerge from the multiple empirical analyzes conducted in this thesis. First, these show that the market power of financial institutions result from two separate sources: the weight of the bank in the local credit market structure, and the level of efficiency of the credit institution. Therefore, the impact of competition between banks depends on the ability of banking competition to influence the local market structure of credit or the efficiency of bank. Moreover, we show that within a concentrated banking market, the existence of strong rivalries between banks reduced the financing cost of firms that had a house bank. Finally, we demonstrate that banking competition increases the duration of bank-firm relationships and encourages loan officers to produce more private information about borrowers. However, it would be safe for banks to monitor the behavior of loan officers regarding their role on information production, in order to design incentives that ensure a sustained effort on their part.