Climate and sovereign risk: The Latin American experience with strong ENSO events

Olivier Damette (), Clément Mathonnat () and Julien Thavard ()
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Olivier Damette: BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, université dauphine, Climate Economics Chair
Clément Mathonnat: BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement
Julien Thavard: BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

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Abstract: Using monthly panel data over the period 2007–2019 for seven Latin American countries, we empirically test the impact of climate shocks, here strong ENSO events (El Niño Southern Oscillations), on sovereign risk. Local Projections are computed to assess the dynamic response of sovereign spreads to ENSO events. Results show that strong El Niño and La Niña shocks lead to a significant increase in sovereign spreads, but with different timing. Strong El Niño shocks are associated with a significant short-term increase in sovereign spreads, while strong La Niña events are associated with a delayed but significant increase in sovereign spreads after a short-term decrease. Thus, our results suggest a potential asymmetry in the effect of these strong ENSO events on sovereign risk. We also highlight high volatility in the dynamics of sovereign spreads, which may reflect an overreaction of investors faced with the high degree of uncertainty generated by the economic and financial consequences associated with strong ENSO events. Complementary time-series estimates suggest that Costa Rica and Peru are especially subject to these effects. Overall, our results provide a warning about the fact that, in the case of Latin American countries, weather shocks associated with strong ENSO events have adverse macroeconomic and financial consequences that can lead to an increase in sovereign risk, hinder their government's ability to act as a ‘climate rescuer' of last resort, and may be aggravated in the future by climate change.

Keywords: Local projections; Sovereign spreads; ENSO; Climate macroeconomy; Climate finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-06
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Published in World Development, 2024, 178, pp.106590. ⟨10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106590⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05269033

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106590

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