We investigate if originating banks increase the complexity of European Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) to obfuscate low securitization quality. When measuring securitization complexity with traditionally used proxies, we find no worse performance of more complex MBS. However, we provide...

Overlapping portfolios constitute a well-recognised source of risk, providing a channel for financial contagion induced by the market price impact of asset deleveraging. We introduce a novel method to assess the market price impact on a security-by-security basis from historical daily traded...

Using proprietary monthly holdings data from Morningstar, we show that Environmental, Social, and Governance funds’ trading during the Covid-19 market crash was consistent with the choices of their clientele. Thus, ESG funds helped to stabilize the market for ESG stocks, but interestingly...

Overlapping portfolios constitute a well-recognised source of risk, providing a channel for financial contagion induced by the market price impact of asset deleveraging. We introduce a novel method to assess the market price impact on a security-by-security basis from historical daily traded...

Can ETFs trigger fire sales in illiquid assets? We develop and empirically examine a model where an authorized participant (AP) holds bond inventory and connects the ETF to the underlying bond market. For redemptions, the AP acts as a buffer between the two markets, holding redeemed bonds to...

Many assets are traded in decentralized markets intermediated by dealers. In these markets, search frictions lead to trading illiquidity. Moreover, terms of trade are negotiated between investors and dealers pursuant to strategic bargaining. Investors’ intrinsic types affect both their outside...

We examine portfolio trading and its impact on corporate bond liquidity. Our theoretical framework identifies how portfolio trades provide dealers with benefits through a diversification channel and with costs through a balance sheet channel. We then test empirically multiple hypotheses on the...

Commercial paper is a short-term debt instrument issued by large corporations. The commercial paper market has long been viewed as a bastion of high liquidity and low risk. But twice during the financial crisis of 2007-2009, the commercial paper market nearly dried up and ceased being perceived...

We investigate the leverage of hedge funds in the time series and cross section. Hedge fund leverage is counter-cyclical to the leverage of listed financial intermediaries and decreases prior to the start of the financial crisis in mid-2007. Hedge fund leverage is lowest in early 2009 when the...

We develop a model of financially constrained arbitrage, and use it to study the dynamics of arbitrage capital, liquidity, and asset prices. Arbitrageurs exploit price discrepancies between assets traded in segmented markets, and in doing so provide liquidity to investors. A collateral...