Drawing on a newly-collected data set on bond yields, macroeconomic variables, and news of various categories for a panel of emerging markets, we provide the first comparative analysis of the determinants of sovereign bond spreads in the first era of financial globalization and bond finance (1870-1913) and today (1994-2002). We find that news about wars or episodes of politically-motivated violence are a significant and robust determinant of spreads; fiscal variables also play a role; in contrast, news about institutional reforms seldom have a rapid and significant impact. There are also important differences between the two eras: country-specific fundamentals account for a greater share of variation in spreads during the pre-WWI period than today.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
5528.
Find related papers by JEL classification: F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets N20 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - General, International, or Comparative
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