Corporate Bond Illiquidity: Evidence from Government Guarantees
39 Pages Posted: 6 Aug 2020
Date Written: July 1, 2020
Abstract
We use a matched sample of corporate bonds that are guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and non-guaranteed corporate bonds of the same issuers to examine default and non-default related components in bond spreads. We find that less than one-fifth of the yield spread between short-term, investment grade corporate bonds and Treasury securities is compensation for illiquidity. Our estimates of the liquidity component in corporate bond spreads differ significantly from the bond-CDS basis. We also find evidence that the corporate bond bid-ask spread is largely related to credit risk.
Keywords: Liquidity, Credit Risk, Corporate Bonds, Government Guarantees
JEL Classification: G12, G18
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation