Sovereign Debt Issuance and Selective Default

Paczos, Wojtek; Shakhnov, Kirill
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Kirill Shakhnov and Wojtek Paczos

No ECO2016/04, Economics Working Papers from European University Institute

Abstract: We propose a novel theory to explain why sovereigns borrow on both domestic and international markets and why defaults are mostly selective (on either domestic or foreign investors). Domestic debt issuance can only smooth tax distortion shocks, whereas foreign debt can also smooth productivity shocks. If the correlation of these shocks is sufficiently low, the sovereign borrows on both markets to avoid excess consumption volatility. Defaults on both types of investors arise in equilibrium due to market incompleteness and the government's limited commitment. The model matches business cycle moments and frequencies of different types of defaults in emerging economies and we show our hypothesis is confirmed by the data. We also find that secondary markets are not a sufficient condition to avoid sovereign defaults. The outcome of the trade in bonds on secondary markets depends on how well each group of investors can coordinate their actions.

Keywords: Sovereign Debt; Selective Default; Debt Composition; Secondary Markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E43 F34 G15 H63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-mac and nep-opm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Working Paper: Sovereign Debt Issuance and Selective Default (2024)
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