Among growing concerns about potential financial stability risks posed by the asset management industry, herding has been considered as an important risk amplification channel. In this paper, we examine the extent to which institutional investors herd in their trading of U.S. corporate bonds and...

Open-end mutual funds have grown to become a key player in the corporate bond market. They invest in illiquid bonds but provide liquid claims to shareholders. Does such liquidity transformation introduce fragility to the corporate bond market? To address this question, we create a novel measure...

Against the backdrop of COVID-19, we study how the interactions of mutual funds and dealers introduce fragility to the municipal bond market and carry lasting impacts. During the crisis, trading activities surge while dealers' liquidity provision plunges for mutual-fund-held bonds, leading to...