Inflation, Debt, and Default

Sewon Hur, Illenin Kondo and Fabrizio Perri

No 1812, Working Papers (Old Series) from Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Abstract: We study how the co-movement of inflation and economic activity affects real interest rates and the likelihood of debt crises. First, we show that for advanced economies, periods with procyclical inflation are associated with lower real interest rates. Procyclical inflation implies that nominal bonds pay out more in bad times, making them a good hedge against aggregate risk. However, such procyclicality also increases sovereign default risk when the economy deteriorates, since the government needs to make larger (real) payments. In order to evaluate both effects, we develop a model of sovereign default on domestic nominal debt with exogenous inflation risk and domestic risk-averse lenders. Countercyclical inflation is a substitute with default, while procyclical inflation is a complement with it, by increasing default incentives. In good times, when default is unlikely, procyclical inflation yields lower real rates. In bad times, as default becomes more material, procyclical inflation can magnify default risk and trigger an increase in real rates.

Keywords: inflation risks; domestic nominal debt; interest rates; sovereign defaults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E31 F34 G12 H63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49 pages
Date: 2018-09-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-mac and nep-opm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: Inflation, Debt, and Default (2016)
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DOI: 10.26509/frbc-wp-201812

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