This paper focuses on risk premiums paid by central governments in Europe and sub-national governments in Germany, Spain, and Canada, using data for bond yield spreads for the period 1991-2005. We find that risk premiums by central governments respond positively to debt and deficits; German states enjoyed a favourable position in financial markets before EMU but not thereafter; Spanish and Canadian provinces risk premiums over the whole period; German and Spanish sub-central governments pay liquidity-related interest rate premiums; Canadian and German provinces/states that benefit from fiscal equalization lower spreads. This is evidence of market discipline at work and of credibility of the EU no-bailout clause.
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Volume (Year): 25 (2009) Issue (Month): 3 (September) Pages: 371-384 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
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References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
António Afonso & Pedro Gomes & Philipp Rother, 2006.
"What “Hides” Behind Sovereign Debt Ratings?,"
Working Papers
2006/35, Department of Economics at the School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Technical University of Lisbon..
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Kerstin Bernoth & Jürgen von Hagen & Ludger Schuknecht, 2006.
"Sovereign Risk Premiums in the European Government Bond Market,"
Discussion Papers
151, SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
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