For Academics

As part of its mission, the MSRB supports academic and other researchers in their analysis of municipal market data. These researchers are in a position to generate insights and conclusions that may enhance the understanding of market efficiency and transparency. To support external research, the MSRB's Academic Program provides data to universities and other research institutions looking to conduct research about the municipal securities market. The program also supports a unique opportunity for select academics to conduct research with support from MSRB staff.

Resources:

MSRB Data Sets for Academics (PDF)

Learn about the MSRB’s data sets for academics, including:

Historical sets of trade data
Primary market and continuing disclosures
Information on variable rate securities

Subscription Information:

Visiting Scholar Program

The Visiting Scholar Program provides interested academics with an opportunity to conduct research with support from MSRB staff. Providing academics and researchers the necessary access and support to conduct in-depth analyses on municipal market data may generate insights and conclusions that may enhance the understanding of market efficiency and transparency.

Academic Requests for Data

The MSRB makes available to academic researchers several data products, including historical sets of trade data, primary market and continuing disclosures, and information related to variable rate securities. Data products and prices are displayed below. The MSRB may, at its discretion, waive or reduce fees for data products for certain non-profit organizations and academic institutions.

Learn how to request data sets from the MSRB.

Data Set	Description	Cost
Academic Historical Transaction Data Product	The Academic Historical Transaction Data Product includes transactions in the current Real-time Transaction Reporting System (RTRS) historical municipal securities transaction data set (report of historical transaction data, including transaction data for inter-dealer and customer trades for a consecutive 12-month period), with the addition of anonymized dealer identifiers. List offering price and takedown transactions (in general, primary market transactions) are excluded. Information is provided with a three-year lag. Academic Historical Transaction Data Product Format	$500 per year, plus a one-time set up fee of $500
Real-time Transaction Reporting System Historical Data Product	The RTRS Historical Data Product includes trade reports for historical transaction data, including the trade date, the CUSIP number of the issue traded, a short description of the issue, the size of the transaction, the time of trade as reported by the dealer, the price of the transaction, the dealer-reported yield (if any) and a designation as to whether the transaction is a sale by a dealer to a customer, a purchase from a customer, or an inter-dealer trade. RTRS Historical Data Product Report Format	$2,500 for each consecutive 12-month period, plus a $2,000 one-time fee for first-time subscribers
Short-term Obligation Submission Historical Data Product (“SHORT”)	Historical data set of current interest rates, related information and documents for municipal securities bearing short-term interest rates, including auction rate securities (ARS) and variable rate demand obligations (VRDO), for a consecutive 12-month period. Specifications for the EMMA SHORT Historical Product	$5,000 for each consecutive 12-month period, plus a $2,000 one-time fee for first-time users
Primary Market Historical Data Product	Historical data set of municipal security primary market disclosure documents and related indexing information provided to the MSRB for a consecutive 12-month period. Specifications for the EMMA Primary Market Historical Data Product	$10,000 for each consecutive 12-month period, plus a $2,000 one-time fee for first-time subscribers
Continuing Disclosure Historical Data Product	Historical data set of municipal security continuing disclosure documents and related indexing information for a consecutive 12-month period provided to the MSRB since June 1, 2009. Specifications for EMMA Continuing Disclosure Historical Data Product	$22,500 for each consecutive 12-month period, plus a $2,000 one-time fee for subscribers

MSRB Data through Wharton Research Data Services

The MSRB makes trade data available through an agreement with Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), a service of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, which provides electronic access to data across finance, marketing and economic disciplines to over 400 institutions globally.

The WRDS platform is available to various corporate, academic, government and nonprofit users. If your organization has access to information and resources offered through WRDS, MSRB trade data may already be available to you.

To explore if your organization has access to MSRB data through WRDS, contact WRDS for more information.