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Can EU bonds serve as euro-denominated safe assets?

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  • Bletzinger, Tilman
  • Greif, William
  • Schwaab, Bernd

Abstract

A safe asset is of high credit quality, retains its value in bad times, and is traded in liquid markets. We show that bonds issued by the European Union (EU) are widely considered to be of high credit quality, and that their yield spread over German Bunds remained contained during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic recession. Recent issuances and taps under the EU’s SURE and NGEU initiatives helped improve EU bonds' market liquidity from previously low levels, also reducing liquidity risk premia. Eurosystem purchases and holdings of EU bonds did not impair market liquidity. Currently, one obstacle to EU bonds achieving a genuine euro-denominated safe asset status, approaching that of Bunds, lies in the one-off, time-limited nature of the EU’s Covid-19-related policy responses. JEL Classification: E58, G12, H63

Suggested Citation

  • Bletzinger, Tilman & Greif, William & Schwaab, Bernd, 2022. "Can EU bonds serve as euro-denominated safe assets?," Working Paper Series 2712, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20222712
    Note: 2652553
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Markus K. Brunnermeier & Sam Langfield & Marco Pagano & Ricardo Reis & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Dimitri Vayanos, 2017. "ESBies: safety in the tranches," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 32(90), pages 175-219.
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    Cited by:

    1. Speck, Christian, 2023. "Pricing the Bund term structure with linear regressions – without an observable short rate," Discussion Papers 08/2023, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    2. Bańkowski, Krzysztof & Benalal, Nicholai & Bouabdallah, Othman & De Stefani, Roberta & Dorrucci, Ettore & Jacquinot, Pascal & Modery, Wolfgang & Nerlich, Carolin & Rodríguez-Vives, Marta & Szörfi, Bél, 2024. "Four years into NextGenerationEU: what impact on the euro area economy," Occasional Paper Series 362, European Central Bank.
    3. Ad Riet, 2024. "The rise of common public debt in Europe: a new chapter in fiscal integration?," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 41(2), pages 617-638, July.
    4. Justus Inhoffen & Iman van Lelyveld, 2023. "Safe Asset Scarcity and Re-use in the European Repo Market," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 2050, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    EU-issued bonds; European Central Bank; European Union; market liquidity; NextGenerationEU (NGEU); Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt

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