一、主題：Boosted Credit Ratings in China: The Effects of Credit Enhancement on Bond Pricing

二、主講人： 高昊宇，中國人民大學副教授，中國人民大學“傑出學者”青年學者，第5屆中國科協“青年人才托舉工程”入選人。他的論文已經發表或接受發表在Review of Financial Studies (RFS), Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA)、《金融研究》和《中國管理科學》等國内外金融管理領域頂級刊物。主持一項國家自然科學基金項目，參與多項國家自然科學基金重點課題。

三、時間：2020年6月10日星期三，10:00 -11:30
四、地點：騰訊會議【具體房間臨時通知】
五、主持人：黃瑜琴副教授，應用金融系主任  

Abstract: Using a comprehensive dataset of 7,626 enterprise bonds and corporate bonds issued between January 2009 and December 2019 in China, we find that 25.2% of bonds receive boosted credit ratings at issuance; among them 96.6% used credit enhancement. This paper empirically studies whether and how the credit enhancement structure in bond contracts affects bond pricing. First, our main findings show that the usage of credit enhancement at issuance can effectively help lower financing costs. Second, we use the propensity score matching procedure and instrumental variable analysis to control for the potential endogeneity of the usage of credit enhancement. Third, we find that the magnitude of cost reduction is larger for riskier firms, and when credit enhancement is provided by more reliable guarantors, which support the risk-sharing mechanism. The information production mechanism is also discussed and excluded. Last, we show that bond investors unsurprisingly discount bonds with boosted credit ratings.