IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i9p3249-d169256.html

Municipal Bond Debt and Sustainability in a Non-Mature Financial Market: The Case of Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Emanuele Padovani

    (Department of Management, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Luca Rescigno

    (Marzotto SIM, 20124 Milan, Italy)

  • Jacopo Ceccatelli

    (Marzotto SIM, 20124 Milan, Italy)

Abstract

Local government (LG) debt increased worldwide during the past decade. Yet, LGs need increased access to financing so they can maintain and expand their community’s infrastructure. Expanding an LG’s bond-related debt (while continuing to meet ongoing debt-service obligations) is essential to its sustainability. An LG must both contain its credit risk and make its risk profile available to potential investors. Credit risk determinants in mature bond markets (e.g., the U.S.) have received considerable attention while those in non-mature markets have not. This paper contributes to the sustainable development literature by (a) identifying the risk-premium drivers in non-mature markets (using the bond market for Italian LGs as an example); and (b) providing LG policymakers with guidance on formulating policies to reduce their debt cost (either directly, by targeting its determinants, or indirectly, by improving the bond market’s functioning). LGs with comparatively high financial dependency on other governments, high criminal activity, and low operating revenues incurred higher bond-related costs than LGs without these characteristics. These LGs can improve their sustainability by (a) providing transparent and understandable financial information to potential investors; (b) reducing criminal activity; and, (c) increasing the frequency of external auditing.

Suggested Citation

  • Emanuele Padovani & Luca Rescigno & Jacopo Ceccatelli, 2018. "Municipal Bond Debt and Sustainability in a Non-Mature Financial Market: The Case of Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-25, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3249-:d:169256
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3249/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/3249/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernoth, Kerstin & von Hagen, Jürgen & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2012. "Sovereign risk premiums in the European government bond market," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 975-995.
    2. Astrid Landschoot, 2004. "Sovereign credit spreads and the composition of the government budget," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 140(3), pages 510-524, September.
    3. Inman, Robert P, 1995. "How to Have a Fiscal Crisis: Lessons from Philadelphia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 378-383, May.
    4. Levy, Nadav & Pauzner, Ady, 2014. "Government's credit-rating concerns and the evaluation of public projects," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 117-130.
    5. Schuknecht, Ludger & von Hagen, Jürgen & Wolswijk, Guido, 2009. "Government risk premiums in the bond market: EMU and Canada," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 371-384, September.
    6. Thomas Laubach, 2009. "New Evidence on the Interest Rate Effects of Budget Deficits and Debt," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(4), pages 858-885, June.
    7. Wachtel, Paul & Young, John, 1987. "Deficit Announcements and Interest Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 1007-1012, December.
    8. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    9. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2010. "Growth in a Time of Debt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573-578, May.
    10. Tima T. Moldogaziev & Sharon N. Kioko & W. Bartley Hildreth, 2017. "Impact of Bankruptcy Eligibility Requirements and Statutory Liens on Borrowing Costs," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 47-73, December.
    11. Delphine Moretti, 2016. "Accrual practices and reform experiences in OECD countries Results of the 2016 OECD Accruals Survey," OECD Journal on Budgeting, OECD Publishing, vol. 16(1), pages 9-28.
    12. Schultz, Paul, 2012. "The market for new issues of municipal bonds: The roles of transparency and limited access to retail investors," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(3), pages 492-512.
    13. Schulz Alexander & Wolff Guntram B., 2009. "The German Sub-national Government Bond Market: Structure, Determinants of Yield Spreads and Berlin’s Forgone Bail-out," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 229(1), pages 61-83, February.
    14. Rivers, Mary Jean & Yates, Barbara M., 1997. "City size and geographic segmentation in the municipal bond market," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 633-645.
    15. Tima T. Moldogaziev & Martin J. Luby, 2016. "Too Close for Comfort: Does the Intensity of Municipal Advisor and Underwriter Relationship Impact Borrowing Costs?," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(3), pages 69-93, September.
    16. Vicente Pina & Lourdes Torres & Ana Yetano, 2009. "Accrual Accounting in EU Local Governments: One Method, Several Approaches," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 765-807.
    17. Massimo Pinna, 2015. "An Empirical Analysis of the Municipal Bond Market in Italy: Sovereign Risk and Sub-Sovereign Levels of Government," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 68-94, September.
    18. Laurence Booth & George Georgopoulos & Walid Hejazi, 2007. "What drives provincial-Canada yield spreads?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 40(3), pages 1008-1032, August.
    19. Francis A. Longstaff & Sanjay Mithal & Eric Neis, 2005. "Corporate Yield Spreads: Default Risk or Liquidity? New Evidence from the Credit Default Swap Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(5), pages 2213-2253, October.
    20. Jun Peng & Peter Brucato, 2004. "An empirical analysis of market and institutional mechanisms for alleviating information asymmetry in the municipal bond market," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 28(2), pages 226-238, June.
    21. Capeci, John, 1994. "Local fiscal policies, default risk, and municipal borrowing costs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 73-89, January.
    22. Sandra Cohen & Antonella Costanzo & Francesca Manes-Rossi, 2017. "Auditors and early signals of financial distress in local governments," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 32(3), pages 234-250, March.
    23. Arthur Allen & George Sanders & Donna Dudney, 2009. "Should more local governments purchase a bond rating?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 421-438, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dionisio Buendía-Carrillo & Juan Lara-Rubio & Andrés Navarro-Galera & María Elena Gómez-Miranda, 2020. "The impact of population size on the risk of local government default," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(5), pages 1264-1286, October.
    2. Vicente Pina & Patricia Bachiller & Lara Ripoll, 2020. "Testing the Reliability of Financial Sustainability. The Case of Spanish Local Governments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    3. Changqian Xie & Rubi Ahmad & Eric H Y Koh, 2022. "Does credit rating agency reputation matter in China’s local government bond market?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(9), pages 1-32, September.
    4. Juan Lara-Rubio & Francisco J. Galvez-Sánchez & Valentín Molina-Moreno & Andrés Navarro-Galera, 2025. "Analysing credit risk in persons with disabilities as an instrument of financial inclusion," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 27(2), pages 581-603, August.
    5. Francisca Tejedo-Romero & Joaquim Filipe Ferraz Esteves Araujo, 2023. "Critical factors influencing information disclosure in public organisations," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Emanuele Padovani & Francesco Porcelli & Alberto Zanardi, 2024. "The determinants of the financial distress of Italian municipalities: How much is it due to inadequate resources?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(6), pages 1494-1533, December.
    7. Davide Eltrudis & Patrizio Monfardini, 2020. "Are Central Government Rules Okay? Assessing the Hidden Costs of Centralised Discipline for Municipal Borrowing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-14, November.
    8. Chiara Oldani & Temirlan Moldogaziev, 2025. "Revisiting the fiscal drivers of subnational borrowing: a comparative analysis of Italian regions and the American states," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 15(4), pages 1069-1097, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabio Sigrist & Patrick Köchli & Christoph Lengwiler, 2018. "Determinants of municipal loan spreads: empirical evidence from Switzerland," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 32(2), pages 143-166, May.
    2. Fazlioglu, S., 2013. "Determinants of sovereign debt yield spreads under EMU: Pairwise approach," Research Memorandum 007, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    3. Beck, Roland & Ferrucci, Gianluigi & Hantzsche, Arno & Rau-Göhring, Matthias, 2017. "Determinants of sub-sovereign bond yield spreads – The role of fiscal fundamentals and federal bailout expectations," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 72-98.
    4. repec:ecb:ecbops:2014165 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Massimo Pinna, 2015. "An Empirical Analysis of the Municipal Bond Market in Italy: Sovereign Risk and Sub-Sovereign Levels of Government," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 68-94, September.
    6. Dieppe, Alistair & Mourinho Félix, Ricardo & Marchiori, Luca & Grech, Owen & Albani, Maria & Lalouette, Laure & Kulikov, Dmitry & Papadopoulou, Niki & Sideris, Dimitris & Irac, Delphine & Gordo Mora, , 2015. "Public debt, population ageing and medium-term growth," Occasional Paper Series 165, European Central Bank.
    7. Paul J.J. Welfens, 2011. "The Twin Crisis: From the Transatlantic Banking Crisis to the Euro Crisis?," EIIW Discussion paper disbei187, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    8. Jacob Veenstra & Bernard Ommeren, 2017. "Bailout Clauses and the Price of Credit: The Dutch Experience for Housing Corporations," De Economist, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 295-320, September.
    9. Poghosyan, Tigran, 2014. "Long-run and short-run determinants of sovereign bond yields in advanced economies," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 100-114.
    10. Sola, Sergio & Palomba, Geremia, 2016. "Sub-nationals' risk premia in fiscal federations: Fiscal performance and institutional design," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 165-187.
    11. Carlos David Ardila-Dueñas & Hernán Rincón-Castro, 2019. "¿Cómo y qué tanto impacta la deuda pública a las tasas de interés de mercado?," Borradores de Economia 1077, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    12. Christopher D. Cotton, 2024. "Debt, deficits and interest rates," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 91(363), pages 911-943, July.
    13. Arghyrou, Michael G. & Kontonikas, Alexandros, 2012. "The EMU sovereign-debt crisis: Fundamentals, expectations and contagion," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 658-677.
    14. Vyprachticka, Terezie, 2011. "Could the Stability and Growth Pact be Substituted by the Financial Markets?," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 15, September.
    15. Maltritz, Dominik, 2012. "Determinants of sovereign yield spreads in the Eurozone: A Bayesian approach," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 657-672.
    16. Eichler, Stefan & Maltritz, Dominik, 2013. "The term structure of sovereign default risk in EMU member countries and its determinants," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1810-1816.
    17. Oliver Hülsewig & Horst Rottmann, 2022. "Euro Area Periphery Countries' Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy Surprises," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(3), pages 544-568, June.
    18. repec:ces:ceswps:_119333 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Mohanty, Ranjan Kumar & Panda, Sidheswar, 2019. "How Does Public Debt affect the Indian Macroeconomy? A Structural VAR Approach," Working Papers 19/250, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    20. Moessinger, Marc-Daniel & Feld, Lars P. & Kalb, Alexander & Osterloh, Steffen, 2013. "Sovereign Bond Market Reactions to Fiscal Rules and No-Bailout Clauses The Swiss Experience," VfS Annual Conference 2013 (Duesseldorf): Competition Policy and Regulation in a Global Economic Order 79807, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    21. Ranjan Kumar Mohanty & Sidheswar Panda, 2019. "How Does Public Debt Affect the Indian Macroeconomy? A Structural VAR Approach," Working Papers id:12980, eSocialSciences.
    22. Ranjan Kumar Mohanty & Sidheswar Panda, 2020. "How Does Public Debt Affect the Indian Macroeconomy? A Structural VAR Approach," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 14(3), pages 253-284, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3249-:d:169256. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.