Do investors reach for yield? Evidence from corporate bond mutual fund flows

IF 2.1 2区经济学 Q2 BUSINESS, FINANCE

Journal of Empirical Finance Pub Date : 2025-06-11 DOI:10.1016/j.jempfin.2025.101625

Jing-Zhi Huang , Peipei Li , Ying Wang , Yuan Wang , Xiangkun Yao , Licheng Zhang

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Abstract

This paper investigates the reaching-for-yield behavior of corporate bond mutual fund investors by analyzing how fund flows respond to changes in interest rates. We find that investment-grade (IG) bond funds experience increased inflows following lower interest rates, while high-yield (HY) bond funds show no significant response. Bond fund investors tend to seek higher yields during periods of lower interest rates by assuming greater interest rate risk through the purchase of longer-maturity IG funds, rather than by taking on additional credit risk. Our findings are robust to potential endogeneity concerns and alternative explanations—including investors’ flight-to-safety behavior, liquidity considerations, and fund managers’ skill—indicating that fund flows are primarily driven by investors’ reaching-for-yield behavior in response to expansionary monetary policy. Overall, this study advances the understanding of monetary policy transmission and its implications for financial stability in the corporate bond market.

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投资者追求收益吗？来自公司债券共同基金流动的证据

本文通过分析资金流对利率变化的响应，对公司债券共同基金投资者的收益率趋近行为进行了研究。我们发现，投资级（IG）债券基金在利率降低后资金流入增加，而高收益（HY）债券基金则没有明显的反应。债券基金投资者倾向于在利率较低的时期寻求更高的收益率，他们通过购买期限较长的债券基金来承担更大的利率风险，而不是承担额外的信用风险。我们的研究结果对潜在的内生性担忧和其他解释（包括投资者的避险行为、流动性考虑和基金经理的技能）是强有力的，表明资金流动主要是由投资者对扩张性货币政策的收益率行为所驱动的。总体而言，本研究促进了对货币政策传导及其对公司债券市场金融稳定影响的理解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Empirical Finance Multiple-

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

3.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Empirical Finance is a financial economics journal whose aim is to publish high quality articles in empirical finance. Empirical finance is interpreted broadly to include any type of empirical work in financial economics, financial econometrics, and also theoretical work with clear empirical implications, even when there is no empirical analysis. The Journal welcomes articles in all fields of finance, such as asset pricing, corporate finance, financial econometrics, banking, international finance, microstructure, behavioural finance, etc. The Editorial Team is willing to take risks on innovative research, controversial papers, and unusual approaches. We are also particularly interested in work produced by young scholars. The composition of the editorial board reflects such goals.