The scarcity effect of QE on repo rates: Evidence from the euro area

William Arrata, Benoît Nguyen, Imène Rahmouni-Rousseau and Miklos Vari

Journal of Financial Economics, 2020, vol. 137, issue 3, 837-856

Abstract: Most short-term interest rates in the euro area are below the European Central Bank deposit facility rate, the rate at which the central bank remunerates banks for excess reserves. This coincided with the start of the Public Sector Purchase Program (PSPP) launched in March 2015. In this paper, we explore empirically the interactions between the PSPP and repo rates. Using proprietary data from PSPP purchases and repo transactions for specific (“special”) securities, we assess the scarcity channel of PSPP and its impact on repo rates. We estimate that purchasing 1% of a bond outstanding is associated with a decline of its repo rate of 0.78 basis points.

Keywords: Specialness; Repo market; Asset purchases; Money market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E52 E58 G10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (21)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jfinec:v:137:y:2020:i:3:p:837-856

DOI: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2020.04.009

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