Towards a History of the Junk Bond Market, 1910-1955

Peter F. Basile, Sung Won Kang, John Landon-Lane () and Hugh Rockoff

No 21559, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We present a new monthly index of the yield on junk (high yield) bonds from 1910-1955. We then use the index to reexamine some of the main debates about the financial history of the interwar years. A close look at junk bond yields: (1) strengthens the view that the decline in lending standards in the late 1920s was modest at best: (2) casts doubt on the view that the banking crisis that began in 1930 disrupted financial markets because banks liquidated their holdings of risky bonds; (3) strengthens the view that the cost of capital rose substantially in the early 1930s and remained high for the rest of the decade; (4) casts doubt on the view that financial markets entered a liquidity trap in the second half of the 1930s; and (5) strengthens the case for believing that junk bond yields contain some information useful for making economic forecasts.

JEL-codes: N12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fmk and nep-his
Note: DAE
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Working Paper: Towards a History of the Junk Bond Market, 1910-1955 (2015)
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