We document capital misallocation in the U.S. investment-grade (IG) corporate bond market, driven by quantitative easing (QE). Prospective fallen angels — risky firms just above the IG cutoff — enjoyed subsidized bond financing in 2009–19. This effect is driven by Fed purchases of securities inducing long-duration IG-focused investors to rebalance their portfolios towards higher-yielding IG bonds. The benefiting firms (i) exploited the sluggish downward adjustment of credit ratings after M&A to finance risky acquisitions with bond issuances, and (ii) increased market share affecting competitors’ employment and investment, but (iii) suffered severe downgrades at the onset of the pandemic.

中文翻译：

---

过高的特权？量化宽松和对潜在堕落天使的债券市场补贴

我们记录了在量化宽松 （QE） 推动下的美国投资级 （IG） 公司债券市场的资本错配。潜在的堕落天使——略高于 IG 临界值的风险公司——在 2009-19 年享受了补贴债券融资。这种影响是由美联储购买证券推动的，这些证券促使长期专注于投资级债券的投资者将其投资组合重新平衡，转向收益率更高的投资级债券。受益企业 （i） 利用并购后信用评级下调缓慢的机会，通过发行债券为高风险收购提供资金，以及 （ii） 市场份额增加，影响竞争对手的就业和投资，但 （iii） 在疫情开始时遭受严重降级。