important factor contributing to the credit cycle. This paper analyses this phenomenon in the corporate bond market …. Specifically, we show evidence for reaching for yield among insurance companies, the largest institutional holders of corporate … bonds. Insurance companies have capital requirements tied to the credit ratings of their investments. Conditional on ratings …

important factor contributing to the credit cycle. This paper presents a detailed study of this phenomenon in the corporate bond … market. We show that insurance companies, the largest institutional holders of corporate bonds, reach for yield in choosing … their investments. Consistent with lower rated bonds bearing higher capital requirement, insurance firms' prefer to hold …

important factor contributing to the credit cycle. This paper presents a detailed study of this phenomenon in the corporate bond … market. We show that insurance companies, the largest institutional holders of corporate bonds, reach for yield in choosing … their investments. Consistent with lower rated bonds bearing higher capital requirement, insurance firms' prefer to hold …

We examine the effect of the bond capital supply uncertainty of institutional investors (e.g., mutual bond funds and … insurance companies) on the leverage of the firm using a novel dataset. Our main finding is that the supply uncertainty of the … firm's bond investor base — measured as (i) the average portfolio turnover or (ii) the average flow volatility of investors …