A sentiment index to measure sovereign risk using Google data

[EN] The aim of this paper is to construct an index that reflects investor sentiment regarding sovereign debt markets and to analyze this index to predict the evolution of sovereign risk. This Google Sovereign-Risk Sentiment Index (GSSI) is constructed by aggregating Google search data for a set of...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: González Fernández, Marcos, González Velasco, María del Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de León
Repositorio:BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
OAI Identifier:oai:buleria.unileon.es:10612/21345
Acceso en línea:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056020301027?via%3Dihub
https://hdl.handle.net/10612/21345
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Finanzas
Sovereign risk
Google data
Internet activity
Investor sentiment
Sovereign debt crisis
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] The aim of this paper is to construct an index that reflects investor sentiment regarding sovereign debt markets and to analyze this index to predict the evolution of sovereign risk. This Google Sovereign-Risk Sentiment Index (GSSI) is constructed by aggregating Google search data for a set of keywords related to the sovereign debt crisis that took place in Europe. The results indicate that the GSSI shows a high correlation with other sovereign risk indexes. Moreover, we analyze through panel data regressions its relationship with sovereign Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) for a set of European countries in the period 2008–2017. We determine that the GSSI shows the expected positive relationship with sovereign risk, especially in peripheral countries and during the period of maximum financial distress in sovereign debt markets. Our findings contribute to the investor sentiment literature and provide a novel measure of sovereign risk. These results suggest several implications for public authorities and regulators.