Search results for "Debt-to-GDP ratio"
showing 10 items of 16 documents
How to pay for the debt — Coping with the Third World's crisis
1990
The Brady Plan is the first official proposal to give priority to a tangible reduction in the debtor countries' debt service burden and is thus a milestone along the path towards overcoming the international debt crisis. However, the instruments foreseen in the Plan virtually invite criticism and scepticism. What are the main inadequacies of the Brady Plan? How can the international debt strategy be developed further and made more effective?
Repatriation of Debt in the Euro Crisis: Evidence for the Secondary Market Theory
2013
The Euro Crisis has marked a sharp inversion in the process of the European financial integration and, more specifically, a repatriation of countries' debt from foreign to domestic investors. Yet the drivers of the financial fragmentation remain unclear. This paper investigates the empirical patterns in light of competing theories of cross-border portfolio allocation. Three main empirical regularities stand out: i) the repatriation of debt occurred primarily in crisis countries; ii) the repatriation affected mainly public debt; iii) the public debt of crisis countries was reallocated to politically influential countries within the Euro Area. Standard theories of portfolio allocation and hom…
Implicit Public Debt Thresholds: An Empirical Exercise for the Case of Spain
2017
We extend previous work that combines the Value at Risk approach with estimation of the correlation pattern of the macroeconomic determinants of public debt dynamics by means of Vector Auto Regressions (VARs). These estimated models are used to compute the probability that the public debt ratio exceeds a given threshold, by means of Monte Carlo simulations. We apply this methodology to Spanish data and compute time-series probabilities to analyse the possible correlation with market risk assessment, measured by the spread over the German bond. Taking into account the high correlation between the probability of crossing a pre-specified debt threshold and the spread, we go a step further and …
The Case for Contingent Convertible Debt for Sovereigns
2015
We make the case for sovereigns to issue contingent convertible bonds as a means to forestall debt crises. These instruments contractually stipulate payment standstill, contingent on a sovereign’s credit default swap spread breaching a distress threshold. This is a financial innovation solution to the lack of sovereign debt restructuring mechanisms, limiting ex ante the likelihood of debt crises and imposing ex post risk sharing between creditors and the debtor. The new instruments are contingent contracts addressing neglected risks in sovereign debt. Building on literature for contingent convertible debt for banks we address the design of sovereign contingent debt, including market discipl…
Financial stress and sovereign debt composition
2015
"Published online: 19 Oct 2015"
How Costly are Debt Crises?
2010
The aim of this paper is to assess the short- and medium-term impact of debt crises on GDP. Using an unbalanced panel of 154 countries from 1970 to 2008, the paper shows that debt crises produce significant and long-lasting output losses, reducing output by about 10 percent after eight years. The results also suggest that debt crises tend to be more detrimental than banking and currency crises. The significance of the results is robust to different specifications, identification and endogeneity checks, and datasets.
Determinants of sub-central European government debt
2017
Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyze the determinants of sub-central government debt in Europe (Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Belgium and Spain) through estimation for each State based on corresponding panel data from 1996 to 2010. Furthermore, we estimate the debt model using a joint sample, consolidating conclusions on the most influential variables in terms of public debt. A comparative analysis of institutional frameworks in Europe shows that relationships between central and sub-central tax authorities have common traits, although the extent of change in each country remains unknown. In sum, this study shows that sub-sovereign government budgets are counter-cyclical, that ec…
A wavelet analysis of US fiscal sustainability
2015
Abstract In this paper, we reassess the relationship between primary deficit and lagged debt to GDP ratio (Bohn, 1998), to test for US debt sustainability over the period 1795–2012. Our analysis is rooted in the wavelet domain enabling the detection of interesting patterns and otherwise hidden information. We find evidence of long term fiscal sustainability but only up until 1995 and also we show that governments tend to respond more vigorously to budget deficits when the level of debt is high rather than low.
Risk Profiles for Re-Profiling the Sovereign Debt of Crisis Countries
2014
This paper uses a risk-management approach to re-profile the sovereign debt of countries facing debt crises. Using scenario analysis we develop a risk measure of the sovereign's debt -- Conditional Debt-at-Risk -- and an optimization model is used to trace risk profiles that tradeoff expected cost of debt financing against the Conditional Debt-at-Risk. The risk profiles are particularly informative for crisis countries, as they allow us to identify, with high-probability, debt unsustainability. We develop risk profiles for two Eurozone countries with excessive debt, Cyprus and Italy, both in their current form and under various forms of restructuring or rescheduling, and show how to assess …
Risk Management Optimization for Sovereign Debt Restructuring
2015
Abstract Debt restructuring is one of the policy tools available for resolving sovereign debt crises and, while unorthodox, it is not uncommon. We propose a scenario analysis for debt sustainability and integrate it with scenario optimization for risk management in restructuring sovereign debt. The scenario dynamics of debt-to-GDP ratio are used to define a tail risk measure, termed conditional Debt-at-Risk. A multi-period stochastic programming model minimizes the expected cost of debt financing subject to risk limits. It provides an operational model to handle significant aspects of debt restructuring: it collects all debt issues in a common framework, and can include contingent claims, m…