Finally, the authors would like to acknowledge the helpful assistance of Gigi Gurtis, Wolfe Jaffe, Kris Koutrakos and Amy Latham. The American capital markets are generally considered the most efficient and investor friendly markets in the world. The American investor is the most knowledgeable investor in the world and, indeed, the most successful. The information available to investors is enormous and growing. Information flows to investors from every direction from the investment firms, from the media, from the Internet.
Information is the chief concern of American securities regulation.
Disclosure of information has been the central theme of securities regulation in the United States. The Securities Act of 1933 set the legal framework for the public disclosure of information required for the public offering of securities. There have been important changes since 1933 in the regulations that govern the implementation of the 1933 Act. Shelf registration, really for the first time, permitted seasoned companies to offer securities on an immediate basis. That immediacy was crucial to the development of a richer and deeper public bond market.