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Crossing the Credit Channel: Credit Spreads and Firm Heterogeneity

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  • Gareth Anderson
  • Ambrogio Cesa-Bianchi

Abstract

Credit spreads rise after a monetary policy tightening, yet spread reactions are heterogeneous across firms. Exploiting information from a panel of corporate bonds matched with balance sheet data for U.S. non-financial firms, we document that firms with high leverage experience a more pronounced increase in credit spreads than firms with low leverage. A large fraction of this increase is due to a component of credit spreads that is in excess of firms' expected default. Our results suggest that frictions in the financial intermediation sector play a crucial role in shaping the transmission mechanism of monetary policy.

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  • Gareth Anderson & Ambrogio Cesa-Bianchi, 2020. "Crossing the Credit Channel: Credit Spreads and Firm Heterogeneity," IMF Working Papers 2020/267, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2020/267
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    monetary policy; heterogeneity; credit spreads; excess bond premium; credit channel; financial accelerator; event study;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • F44 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - International Business Cycles
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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