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Quantitative easing, investment, and safe assets: the corporate-bond lending channel

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We show that Quantitative Easing (QE) stimulates investment via a corporate-bond lending channel. Fed's large-scale purchases of MBS and treasuries creates a vacuum of safe assets, prompting safer firms to invest by issuing relatively "safe" bonds. Using micro-data around QE, we find that QE increases firm-level investment by 7.4 percentage points for firms with bond market access. Results hold excluding the financial crisis period. This growth is financed with senior bonds. We find no evidence of higher shareholders' payouts. The robust findings support a stylized model in which reducing the supply of treasuries lowers "safe" corporate bond yields, stimulating investment.

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  • Erasmo Giambona & Rafael Matta & José-Luis Peydró & Ye Wang, 2020. "Quantitative easing, investment, and safe assets: the corporate-bond lending channel," Economics Working Papers 1722, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Oct 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:upf:upfgen:1722
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    Cited by:

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    3. Koráb, Petr & Saadaoui Mallek, Ray & Dibooglu, Sel, 2021. "Effects of quantitative easing on firm performance in the euro area," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    4. Francesco Giovanardi & Matthias Kaldorf & Lucas Radke & Florian Wicknig, 2023. "The Preferential Treatment of Green Bonds," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 657-676, December.
    5. Andrea Nocera & M. Hashem Pesaran, 2022. "Causal Effects of the Fed's Large-Scale Asset Purchases on Firms' Capital Structure," CESifo Working Paper Series 9695, CESifo.
    6. Tischer, Johannes, 2022. "Quantitative Easing, Safe Asset Scarcity and Bank Lending," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264035, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Tischer, Johannes, 2021. "Quantitative easing, safe asset scarcity and bank lending," Discussion Papers 35/2021, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    8. Dawood Ashraf & Mohsin Khawaja & M. Ishaq Bhatti, 2022. "Raising capital amid economic policy uncertainty: an empirical investigation," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-32, December.
    9. Francesco Giovanardi & Matthias Kaldorf & Lucas Radke & Florian Wicknig, 2023. "The Preferential Treatment of Green Bonds," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 51, pages 657-676, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Quantitative Easing (QE); Corporate-Bond Lending Channel; Investment; Safe Assets; Financing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E5 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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