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IFin Seminar, Olivier Darmouni - Columbia Business School NY "Bond Market Stimulus: Firm-Level Evidence from 2020-21"

Institute of Finance

Date: 7 December 2021 / 12:25 - 13:40

Speaker: Olivier Darmouni - Columbia Business School NY

Title:     "Bond Market Stimulus: Firm-Level Evidence from 2020-21"

Date:     December 7, 2021

Time:     12:25 - 13:40

Room:    Virtual - Zoom

Lugano Campus

 

Abstract
Using micro-data on corporate balance sheets, we study firm behavior after the unprecedented policy support to corporate bond markets in 2020. As bond yields fell, firms issued bonds to accumulate large and persistent amounts of liquid assets instead of investing. Conceptually, this could nevertheless be beneficial, as long as bond issuers valued this liquidity highly. However, these firms generally had access to bank liquidity that they chose not to use: many issuers left their credit lines untouched, while others used bond proceeds to repay existing loans. Moreover, equity payouts remained high: over 40% of issuers repurchased shares in Spring 2020.