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Tax-subsidized underpricing: The market for Build America Bonds

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  • Cestau, Dario
  • Green, Richard C.
  • Schürhoff, Norman

Abstract

Build America Bonds (BABs) were issued by municipalities for 20 months as a part of the 2009 fiscal package. Unlike traditional tax-exempt municipals, BABs are taxable to the holder, but the Treasury rebates 35% of the coupon to the issuer. The stated purpose was to provide municipalities access to a more liquid market including foreign, tax-exempt, and tax-deferred investors. We find BABs do not exhibit greater liquidity than traditional municipals. BABs are more underpriced initially, particularly for interdealer trades. BABs also show a substitution from underwriter fees toward more underpricing, suggesting that the underpricing is a strategic response to the tax subsidy.

Suggested Citation

  • Cestau, Dario & Green, Richard C. & Schürhoff, Norman, 2013. "Tax-subsidized underpricing: The market for Build America Bonds," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 593-608.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:moneco:v:60:y:2013:i:5:p:593-608
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmoneco.2013.04.010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Andrew Ang & Vineer Bhansali & Yuhang Xing, 2010. "Build America Bonds," NBER Working Papers 16008, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Dougal, Casey & Gao, Pengjie & Mayew, William J. & Parsons, Christopher A., 2019. "What’s in a (school) name? Racial discrimination in higher education bond markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(3), pages 570-590.
    2. Gao Liu & Dwight V. Denison, 2014. "Indirect and Direct Subsidies for the Cost of Government Capital: Comparing Tax-Exempt Bonds and Build America Bonds," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 67(3), pages 569-594, September.
    3. Darío Cestau, 2018. "The political affiliation effect on state credit risk," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 135-154, April.
    4. Dario Cestau & Burton Hollifield & Dan Li & Norman Schürhoff, 2019. "Municipal Bond Markets," Annual Review of Financial Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 65-84, December.
    5. Wilson, Christian & Caldecott, Ben, 2023. "Investigating the role of passive funds in carbon-intensive capital markets: Evidence from U.S. bonds," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    6. Richter, Sylvia & Heyde, Frank & Horsch, Andreas & Wünsche, Andreas, 2021. "Determinants of project bond prices – Insights into infrastructure and energy capital markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    7. Jess N. Cornaggia & Kimberly J. Cornaggia & Ryan D. Israelsen, 2020. "Where the Heart Is: Information Production and the Home Bias," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(12), pages 5532-5557, December.

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