We show that financial sector bailouts and sovereign credit risk are intimately linked. A bailout benefits the economy …-financial sector to fund the bailout may be inefficient since it weakens its incentive to invest, decreasing growth. Instead, the … sovereign may choose to fund the bailout by diluting existing government bondholders, resulting in a deterioration of the …

This paper surveys the recent literature on the theory of macroeconomic policy. We study the effect of various … incentive constraints on the policy making process, such as lack of credibility, political opportunism, political ideology, and …: it covers credibility issues, political business cycles, and optimal design of monetary institutions. Part II deals with …

more foreign-currency debt. We propose that monetary policy credibility explains the currency composition of sovereign debt … and nominal bond risks in the presence of risk-averse investors. In our model, low credibility governments inflate during … inflation, investors require risk premia on nominal debt, making nominal debt issuance costly for low credibility governments …

Despite a formal 'no-bailout clause', we estimate significant net present value transfers from the European Union to … differences across countries. We characterize bailout size and likelihood as a function of the economic fundamentals (economic … 'Northern view' (transfers weaken fiscal discipline). While a stronger no-bailout commitment reduces risk-shifting, it may not …