Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-lvwk9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-16T20:47:55.264Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Price Elasticity of Discounted Bonds: Some Empirical Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Extract

It is widely accepted that percentage price changes in lower coupon (“deep discount”) bonds will exceed those of issues with higher coupons [see, e. g., 8 and 9 ]. Cramer and Hawk's recent article in this journal [5], in fact, utilized this assumption although no exact empirical verification was sought. In an efficient market, the existence of such capital gains opportunities would be expected to attract investors and thereby reduce any risk-adjusted advantage to these bonds. Indeed, Conard and Frankena found that exactly this riskadjustment phenomenon seems to occur [4, pp. 162–163]. Thus, the purpose of this note is to address the question: Have the deepest discount bonds actually provided the greatest capital gains opportunities during periods of falling interest rates? In doing so, the paper does not question the validity of the mathematical “linkage” between price and coupon; rather, it seeks to determine if market structure (e. g., investor preferences) leads to a breakdown in the assumed (traditional) price volatility-coupon level relationship.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © School of Business Administration, University of Washington 1978

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFRENCES

[1]An Analytical Record of Yields and Yield Spreads. New York: Salomon Brothers (05 1974), pp. 4859.Google Scholar
[2]Bradley, S. W., and Crane, D. B.. “Management of Commercial Bank Govern-ment Security Portfolios: An Optimization Approach under Uncertainty”. Journal of Bank Research (Spring 1973), pp. 1830.Google Scholar
[3]Cheng, Pao Lun. “Optimum Bond Portfolio Selection”. Management Science (07 1962), pp. 409499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4]Conard, Joseph W., and Frankena, Mark W.. “The Yield Spread between New and Seasoned Corporate Bonds”. In Essays on Interest Rates, Vol. I, NBER General Series, No. 88 (1969), pp. 143222.Google Scholar
[5]Cramer, Robert H., and Hawk, S. L.. “The Consideration of Coupon Levels, Taxes, Reinvestment Rates, and Maturity in the Investment Management of Financial Institutions”. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (03 1975), pp. 6784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6]Fisher, L. “Determinants of Risk Premium on Corporate Bonds.” Journal of Political Economy (06 1957), pp. 217237.Google Scholar
[7]Hickman, W. B.Corporate Bond Quality and Investor Experience. New York, NBER (1958).Google Scholar
[8]Homer, Sidney, and Leibowitz, Martin. Inside the Yield Book. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall (1972).Google Scholar
[9]Malkiel, Burton G.Expectations, Bond Prices, and the Term Structure of Interest Rates”. Quarterly Journal of Economics (05 1962), pp. 197218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[10]Moody's Bond Survey. New York: Moody's Investor Services.Google Scholar
[11]Robichek, Alexander A., and Niebuhr, David. “Tax Induced Bias in Reported Treasury Yields”. Journal of Finance (12 1970), pp. 10811090.Google Scholar
[12]Zaentz, Neil.Relative Price Performance among Coupon Areas in Corporate Bonds”. Financial Analysts Journal (08 1969), pp. 146155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar