Empirical determinants of the relative yields on taxable and tax-exempt securities

Abstract

Yields on short-term prime-grade municipals vary through time in relation to after-corporate-tax yields on short-term U.S. Treasury securities. The pattern is not related to the default premium in municipal yields or to the historical ceiling on bank deposit rates (Regulation Q). However, there is a strong link to the default premium in corporate yields and to municipal holdings by large commercial banks. These findings suggest that taxable and tax-exempt markets are linked both by the capital-structure decisions of firms and by the tax-arbitrage activities of banks.