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Sovereign Debt Portfolios, Bond Risks, and the Credibility of Monetary Policy

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  • Wenxin Du
  • Carolin E. Pflueger
  • Jesse Schreger

Abstract

We document that governments whose local currency debt provides them with greater hedging benefits actually borrow more in foreign currency. We introduce two features into a government's debt portfolio choice problem to explain this finding: risk-averse lenders and lack of monetary policy commitment. A government without commitment chooses excessively counter-cyclical inflation ex post, which leads risk-averse lenders to require a risk premium ex ante. This makes local currency debt too expensive from the government's perspective and thereby discourages the government from borrowing in its own currency.

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  • Wenxin Du & Carolin E. Pflueger & Jesse Schreger, 2016. "Sovereign Debt Portfolios, Bond Risks, and the Credibility of Monetary Policy," NBER Working Papers 22592, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22592
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    2. Pablo Ottonello & Diego J. Perez, 2019. "The Currency Composition of Sovereign Debt," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 174-208, July.
    3. Matteo Maggiori & Brent Neiman & Jesse Schreger, 2020. "International Currencies and Capital Allocation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(6), pages 2019-2066.
    4. Gomez-Gonzalez, Patricia, 2019. "Inflation-linked public debt in emerging economies," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 313-334.
    5. Sunder-Plassmann, Laura, 2020. "Infation, default and sovereign debt: The role of denomination and ownership," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    6. Dudzich Viktar, 2020. "Relationships between exchange rate regime, real exchange rate volatility and currency structure of government bonds in emerging markets," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 20(1), pages 3-22, March.
    7. Egemen Eren & Semyon Malamud, 2018. "Dominant Currency Debt," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 18-55, Swiss Finance Institute.
    8. Charles Engel & JungJae Park, 2022. "Debauchery and Original Sin: The Currency Composition of Sovereign Debt," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 1095-1144.
    9. Luigi Bocola & Guido Lorenzoni, 2017. "Financial Crises and Lending of Last Resort in Open Economies," Staff Report 557, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    10. Shang-Jin Wei, 2018. "Managing Financial Globalization: Insights from the Recent Literature," NBER Working Papers 24330, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Luigi Bocola & Guido Lorenzoni, 2020. "Financial Crises, Dollarization, and Lending of Last Resort in Open Economies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(8), pages 2524-2557, August.
    12. Sewon Hur & Illenin O. Kondo & Fabrizio Perri, 2018. "Real Interest Rates, Inflation, and Default," Staff Report 574, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    13. Hale, Galina B. & Jones, Peter C. & Spiegel, Mark M., 2020. "Home currency issuance in international bond markets," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    14. Ogrokhina, Olena & Rodriguez, Cesar M., 2019. "The effect of inflation targeting and financial openness on currency composition of sovereign international debt," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-18.

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    JEL classification:

    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • F3 - International Economics - - International Finance
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets

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