Many economic questions require estimating the price effect of demand shifts (multipliers) in the bond market. Corporate bonds have salient characteristics that distinguish between close and distant substitutes. We show that accounting for heterogeneous substitutability between bonds is critical for correctly estimating multipliers. We find that security-level multipliers are very small. In fact, an order of magnitude smaller than the estimate ignoring heterogeneous substitutability. Nonetheless, portfolio multipliers are substantially larger and monotonically increase with the aggregation level. Furthermore, we find that the multiplier is larger for high-yield bonds, longer-maturity bonds, and bonds with greater arbitrage risks.

We present new facts on how convenience yields fluctuate with macroeconomic variables and fiscal policy: the convenience yield of long-term Treasuries is negatively correlated with inflation expectations, and inflation expectations predict future debt-to-GDP growth. To rationalize these findings, we incorporate the convenience yield into a macro-finance model with endogenous fiscal policy. The government finances deficit shocks partially through higher inflation and partially through more future borrowing, which reduces the convenience yield today. The feedback loop between the convenience yield and future debt supply amplifies the effect of fiscal shocks. We further verify this channel using empirically constructed exogenous deficit shocks.