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Which Factors for Corporate Bond Returns?

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Listed:
  • Thuy Duong Dang
  • Fabian Hollstein
  • Marcel Prokopczuk
  • Zhiguo He

Abstract

Factors related to carry, duration, equity momentum, and the term structure are the most important risk factors in corporate bond markets. From a large set of factor candidates, we condense an optimal model with a two-step approach. First, we filter out factors that do not systematically move bond prices. Second, we use a Bayesian model selection approach to determine the optimal, parsimonious model. Many prominent factors do not move prices or are redundant. We document the new model’s good performance compared to that of existing models in time-series and cross-sectional tests and analyze the economic drivers of the factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Thuy Duong Dang & Fabian Hollstein & Marcel Prokopczuk & Zhiguo He, 2023. "Which Factors for Corporate Bond Returns?," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(4), pages 615-652.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rasset:v:13:y:2023:i:4:p:615-652.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection

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