Banks, government bonds, and default: what do the data say?

This paper analyzes sovereign bondholdings by 20,000 banks in 191 countries and 20 sovereign default episodes over 1998–2012, establishing two robust facts. First, banks hold many government bonds (on average 9% of assets) in normal times, particularly banks making fewer loans and operating in less...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Gennaioli, Nicola, Martin, Alberto, 1974-, Rossi, Stefano
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2018
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositório:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/37296
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/37296
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2018.04.011
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Sovereign Risk
Sovereign Default
Government Bonds
Descrição
Resumo:This paper analyzes sovereign bondholdings by 20,000 banks in 191 countries and 20 sovereign default episodes over 1998–2012, establishing two robust facts. First, banks hold many government bonds (on average 9% of assets) in normal times, particularly banks making fewer loans and operating in less financially-developed countries. Second, during default years, banks with the average exposure to government bonds exhibit a lower growth rate of loans than banks without bonds (7-percentage points lower). These results indicate that the “dangerous embrace” between banks and their government plays a key role during sovereign defaults and its strength depends on local conditions.