IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v63y2023i1p507-536.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Did quantitative easing reduce the borrowing costs of firms? The risk‐taking channel

Author

Listed:
  • Gang Wang
  • Yi Shen

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing (QE) on the cost of bank loans and documents large heterogeneous effects across different firms. In QE1, the average loan spread is 22.7 percent lower compared to the non‐QE period. This effect falls in QE2 and OT and then rises in QE3 and the tapering period. The rates of riskier loans are restrained more than less risky loans during QEs as banks take more risks by offering lower rates to attract risky borrowers. The Fed mortgage‐backed securities purchases have a larger impact in narrowing the borrowing cost difference between riskier and safer loans than the Fed Treasury purchases. Our results are robust to borrower, year‐quarter and bank fixed effects. Overall, our findings support that the risk‐taking channel of QE plays a significant role in the corporate bank loan market.

Suggested Citation

  • Gang Wang & Yi Shen, 2023. "Did quantitative easing reduce the borrowing costs of firms? The risk‐taking channel," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 507-536, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:63:y:2023:i:1:p:507-536
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.13059
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.13059
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.13059?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christina D. Romer & David H. Romer, 2004. "A New Measure of Monetary Shocks: Derivation and Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 1055-1084, September.
    2. Kee‐Hong Bae & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Creditor Rights, Enforcement, and Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(2), pages 823-860, April.
    3. Waisman, Maya, 2013. "Product market competition and the cost of bank loans: Evidence from state antitakeover laws," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 4721-4737.
    4. Ross Levine & Chen Lin & Qilin Peng & Wensi Xie, 2020. "Communication within Banking Organizations and Small Business Lending," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(12), pages 5750-5783.
    5. Berger, Allen N. & Black, Lamont K., 2011. "Bank size, lending technologies, and small business finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 724-735, March.
    6. Simon Gilchrist & David López-Salido & Egon Zakrajšek, 2015. "Monetary Policy and Real Borrowing Costs at the Zero Lower Bound," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 77-109, January.
    7. Graham, John R. & Li, Si & Qiu, Jiaping, 2008. "Corporate misreporting and bank loan contracting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 44-61, July.
    8. Paligorova, Teodora & Santos, João A.C., 2017. "Monetary policy and bank risk-taking: Evidence from the corporate loan market," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 35-49.
    9. Diana Bonfim & André Capela, 2020. "The effect of corporate bond purchases by the ECB on firms’ borrowing costs," Economic Bulletin and Financial Stability Report Articles and Banco de Portugal Economic Studies, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    10. Eric T. Swanson, 2016. "Measuring the Effects of Unconventional Monetary Policy on Asset Prices," Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies Book Series, in: Elías Albagli & Diego Saravia & Michael Woodford (ed.),Monetary Policy through Asset Markets: Lessons from Unconventional Measures and Implications for an Integrated World, edition 1, volume 24, chapter 4, pages 105-130, Central Bank of Chile.
    11. Rayenda K. Brahmana & Hui‐Wei You & Evan Lau, 2022. "Does reputation matter for firm risk in developing country?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 2110-2123, April.
    12. Marco Di Maggio & Amir Kermani & Christopher J Palmer, 2020. "How Quantitative Easing Works: Evidence on the Refinancing Channel," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(3), pages 1498-1528.
    13. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2014_003 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Tobias Berg & Anthony Saunders & Sascha Steffen, 2016. "The Total Cost of Corporate Borrowing in the Loan Market: Don't Ignore the Fees," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1357-1392, June.
    15. Ivashina, Victoria & Laeven, Luc & Moral-Benito, Enrique, 2022. "Loan types and the bank lending channel," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 171-187.
    16. Asani Sarkar & Jeffrey Shrader, 2010. "Financial amplification mechanisms and the Federal Reserve’s supply of liquidity during the crisis," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 16(Aug), pages 55-74.
    17. Arvind Krishnamurthy & Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, 2011. "The Effects of Quantitative Easing on Interest Rates: Channels and Implications for Policy," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 42(2 (Fall)), pages 215-287.
    18. Valta, Philip, 2012. "Competition and the cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 661-682.
    19. Goss, Allen & Roberts, Gordon S., 2011. "The impact of corporate social responsibility on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1794-1810, July.
    20. Ivashina, Victoria, 2009. "Asymmetric information effects on loan spreads," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 300-319, May.
    21. Alexander Rodnyansky & Olivier M. Darmouni, 2017. "The Effects of Quantitative Easing on Bank Lending Behavior," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(11), pages 3858-3887.
    22. Amir Sufi, 2007. "Information Asymmetry and Financing Arrangements: Evidence from Syndicated Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(2), pages 629-668, April.
    23. Ashraf, Badar Nadeem & Qian, Ningyu & Shen, Yinjie (Victor), 2021. "The impact of trade and financial openness on bank loan pricing: Evidence from emerging economies," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    24. Bowman, David & Cai, Fang & Davies, Sally & Kamin, Steven, 2015. "Quantitative easing and bank lending: Evidence from Japan," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 15-30.
    25. Joseph E. Gagnon & Matthew Raskin & Julie Remache & Brian P. Sack, 2011. "Large-scale asset purchases by the Federal Reserve: did they work?," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 17(May), pages 41-59.
    26. Tamanna Dalwai & Mahdi Salehi, 2021. "Business strategy, intellectual capital, firm performance, and bankruptcy risk: evidence from Oman's non-financial sector companies," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(3), pages 474-504, August.
    27. Paige Fields, L. & Fraser, Donald R. & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 2012. "Board quality and the cost of debt capital: The case of bank loans," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1536-1547.
    28. Isil Erel, 2011. "The Effect of Bank Mergers on Loan Prices: Evidence from the United States," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(4), pages 1068-1101.
    29. J. David Brown & John S. Earle, 2017. "Finance and Growth at the Firm Level: Evidence from SBA Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(3), pages 1039-1080, June.
    30. Jeremy C. Stein & Anil K. Kashyap, 2000. "What Do a Million Observations on Banks Say about the Transmission of Monetary Policy?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(3), pages 407-428, June.
    31. Arvind Krishnamurthy & Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, 2011. "The Effects of Quantitative Easing on Interest Rates: Channels and Implications for Policy," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 43(2 (Fall)), pages 215-287.
    32. Hasan, Iftekhar & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao & Hoi, Chun-Keung (Stan), 2014. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The effect of corporate tax avoidance on the cost of bank loans," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 3/2014, Bank of Finland.
    33. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    34. Sudheer Chava & Dmitry Livdan & Amiyatosh Purnanandam, 2009. "Do Shareholder Rights Affect the Cost of Bank Loans?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(8), pages 2973-3004, August.
    35. Hasan, Iftekhar & Shen, Yi & Yuan, Xiaojing, 2021. "Local product market competition and bank loans," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    36. Hancock, Diana & Passmore, Wayne, 2011. "Did the Federal Reserve's MBS purchase program lower mortgage rates?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(5), pages 498-514.
    37. Qiu, Jiaping & Yu, Fan, 2009. "The market for corporate control and the cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 505-524, September.
    38. Hasan, Iftekhar & Hoi, Chun Keung & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2017. "Social Capital and Debt Contracting: Evidence from Bank Loans and Public Bonds," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 1017-1047, June.
    39. Campello, Murillo & Gao, Janet, 2017. "Customer concentration and loan contract terms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 108-136.
    40. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    41. Joel F. Houston & Liangliang Jiang & Chen Lin & Yue Ma, 2014. "Political Connections and the Cost of Bank Loans," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 193-243, March.
    42. Jun Qian & Philip E. Strahan, 2007. "How Laws and Institutions Shape Financial Contracts: The Case of Bank Loans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(6), pages 2803-2834, December.
    43. Gang Wang, 2019. "The Effects of Quantitative Easing Announcements on the Mortgage Market: An Event Study Approach," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-30, February.
    44. Chakraborty, Indraneel & Goldstein, Itay & MacKinlay, Andrew, 2020. "Monetary stimulus and bank lending," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 189-218.
    45. Sudheer Chava & Michael R. Roberts, 2008. "How Does Financing Impact Investment? The Role of Debt Covenants," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(5), pages 2085-2121, October.
    46. Hasan, Iftekhar & Hoi, Chun Keung (Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2014. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The effect of corporate tax avoidance on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 109-130.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Chou, Robin K. & Lin, Chih-Yung & Lu, Chien-Lin, 2022. "Bank loans during the 2008 quantitative easing," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    2. Shen, Yi, 2022. "Labor unemployment insurance and bank loans," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    3. Kostas Pappas & Alice Liang Xu, 2023. "Do foreign lenders' national cultures affect loan pricing?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 2006-2036, April.
    4. Yin-Siang Huang & Iftekhar Hasan & Ying-Chen Huang & Chih-Yung Lin, 2021. "Political Uncertainty and Bank Loan Contracts: Does Government Quality Matter?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 157-185, December.
    5. Chia-Ying Chan & Iftekhar Hasan & Chih-Yung Lin, 2021. "Agency cost of CEO perquisites in bank loan contracts," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1221-1258, May.
    6. Yili Lian, 2018. "Bank competition and the cost of bank loans," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 253-282, July.
    7. Roman, Raluca A., 2020. "Winners and losers from supervisory enforcement actions against banks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    8. Delis, Manthos & Hong, Sizhe & Paltalidis, Nikos & Philip, Dennis, 2020. "Forward Guidance and Corporate Lending," MPRA Paper 98159, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Rui-Xiang Zhai & Po-Hsin Ho & Chih-Yung Lin & Tran Thi Thuy Linh, 2023. "Bank CEO risk-taking incentives and bank lending quality," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 949-981, April.
    10. Marco Di Maggio & Amir Kermani & Christopher Palmer, 2016. "How Quantitative Easing Works: Evidence on the Refinancing Channel," NBER Working Papers 22638, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Hasan, Iftekhar & Politsidis, Panagiotis N. & Sharma, Zenu, 2021. "Global syndicated lending during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    12. W. Scott Frame & Eva Steiner, 2022. "Quantitative easing and agency MBS investment and financing choices by mortgage REITs," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(4), pages 931-965, December.
    13. Ni, Xiaoran & Yin, Sirui, 2018. "Shareholder litigation rights and the cost of debt: Evidence from derivative lawsuits," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 169-186.
    14. Bui, Dien Giau & Chen, Yan-Shing & Hasan, Iftekhar & Lin, Chih-Yung, 2018. "Can lenders discern managerial ability from luck? Evidence from bank loan contracts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 187-201.
    15. Manthos D Delis & Sizhe Hong & Nikos Paltalidis & Dennis Philip, 2022. "Forward Guidance and Corporate Lending [Measuring euro area monetary policy]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(4), pages 899-935.
    16. Delis, Manthos D. & Iosifidi, Maria & Mylonidis, Nikolaos, 2021. "Industry heterogeneity in the risk-taking channel," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    17. Stéphane Lhuissier & Urszula Szczerbowicz, 2022. "Monetary Policy and Corporate Debt Structure," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(3), pages 497-515, June.
    18. Lin, Chih-Yung & Chen, Yehning & Ho, Po-Hsin & Yen, Ju-Fang, 2020. "CEO overconfidence and bank loan contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Hasan, Iftekhar & Politsidis, Panagiotis & Sharma, Zenu, 2020. "Bank lending during the COVID-19 pandemic," MPRA Paper 103565, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. He, Zhongda & Qiao, Guannan & Zhang, Le & Zhang, Wenrui, 2021. "Regulator supervisory power and bank loan contracting," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:63:y:2023:i:1:p:507-536. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.