Measuring the effects of unconventional monetary policy on MBS spreads: A comparative study

Ling Wang

The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, 2019, vol. 49, issue C, 235-251

Abstract: Using micro-level data of Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) deals – a different empirical approach than those employed in the existing literature, this paper examines quantitatively how unconventional monetary policy affect MBS spreads and thus augments the still very limited literature on the link between unconventional monetary policy and mortgage markets. This paper also provides the first comparative study including both the U.S. and Japan in order to offer a broader perspective on this issue. We find that unconventional monetary policies implemented by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan both have statistically significant effects in lowering MBS spreads. Furthermore, our evidence suggests that in the U.S., the Federal Reserve’s market-based approach to unconventional monetary policy of providing direct financial support to the MBS market is effective in reducing MBS spreads, while in Japan, it is the Bank of Japan’s bank-based approach to unconventional monetary policy of providing direct financial support to commercial banks that is effective in reducing MBS spreads.

Keywords: Unconventional monetary policy; Asset purchases; Mortgage-backed securities (MBS); MBS spreads; Financial structure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E52 E58 G12 G21 R31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062940818305072
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecofin:v:49:y:2019:i:c:p:235-251

DOI: 10.1016/j.najef.2019.03.020

Access Statistics for this article

The North American Journal of Economics and Finance is currently edited by Hamid Beladi

More articles in The North American Journal of Economics and Finance from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().