American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
A Model of Safe Asset Determination
American Economic Review
vol. 109,
no. 4, April 2019
(pp. 1230–62)
Abstract
What makes an asset a "safe" asset? We study a model where two countries each issue sovereign bonds to satisfy investors' safe asset demands. The countries differ in the float of their bonds and the fundamental resources available to rollover debts. A sovereign's debt is safer if its fundamentals are strong relative to other possible safe assets, not merely strong on an absolute basis. If demand for safe assets is high, a large float enhances safety through a market depth benefit. If demand for safe assets is low, then large debt size is a negative as rollover risk looms large.Citation
He, Zhiguo, Arvind Krishnamurthy, and Konstantin Milbradt. 2019. "A Model of Safe Asset Determination." American Economic Review 109 (4): 1230–62. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20160216Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- F34 International Lending and Debt Problems
- H63 National Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt