Date of Award

5-2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Economics and Finance

Committee Chair(s)

Tyler Brough

Committee

Tyler Brough

Committee

Ben Blau

Committee

Ryan Whitby

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of short sale deregulation on market quality by examining the implementation of regulation SHO, which removed the uptick rule for a subset of pilot securities. This created an exogenous event, allowing a direct examination of the effect of short sale constraints on the markets. This study builds on Roll and Subrahmanyam (2010) in examining the skewness of bid-ask spreads as they represent information asymmetry and market maker competition. We find that the price tests conducted in regulation SHO evenly effected both pilot and non-pilot securities, including a widening of bid-ask spreads and a decrease in spread skewness. These findings suggest that short sellers are shifting from liquidity demanders in the market to liquidity providers in the markets. This change is associated with positive effects in the price discovery process and overall market quality.

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Business Commons

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