Wall Street Research: Past, Present, and Future

Format:Print
| Pages:224

Abstract

Wall Street equity analysts provide research products and services on publicly-traded companies to institutional and retail investors to help them make more profitable investment decisions. During the last ten years Wall Street research has been battered by a series of shocks. As concerns over conflicts of interest mounted, the integrity of research output was questioned, leading to transformative regulatory changes. New technologies emerged to democratize information and change the way that stocks are traded, threatening the industry's product and business model. There were upheavals and stagnation in established core financial markets such as the U.S., Japan and Western Europe. And burgeoning new markets in countries such as China and India raised potential challenges to the dominance of leading firms. Our research tells a fascinating story of an industry that has proved remarkably resilient in resolving economic and regulatory challenges. It provides practitioners and scholars with a deeper understanding of the forces that have shaped the industry and accounted for its resilience, and how these are likely to influence its future.