Political uncertainty drives markets. Among macroeconomic forces, it is one of the fewfactors that systematically affect most assets - hence it qualifies as a state variable in the senseof the ICAPM and should carry a risk premium. We employ static and conditional factormodels using data in...

We explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the term structure of interest rates. Using data from developed and emerging countries, we demonstrate that the expansion of the disease significantly affects sovereign bond markets. The growth of confirmed cases significantly widens the term...

Using unique data at transaction and identity levels, we provide the first systematic study of interest rate swaps traded over the counter. We find substantial and persistent heterogeneity in derivative prices consistent with a pass-through of regulatory costs on to market prices via so-called...

Are yields of long-maturity bonds distorted by demand pressure of clientele investors, regulatory effects, or default, flight-to-safety or liquidity premiums? Using data on German nominal bonds between 2005 and 2015, we study the differential pricing and liquidity of short and long maturity...

There is a growing consensus that part of the surge in government bond spreads during the EMU debt crisis can be explained by wake-up-call contagion. Evidence on pure contagion however is very mixed and there are no insights into the dynamics of these effects. As a contribution to fill this gap,...

Despite the single currency, yields on government bonds in the Euro Area deviate from German bond yields. These bond spreads are usually attributed to differing default and liquidity risks. Recent research points out that time-varying global factors, approximated by risk measures or short term...

Green bonds have gained prominence in China’s capital market as tools that help to fuel the transition to a climate-resilient economy. Although the issuance volume in the Chinese green bond market has been growing rapidly in recent years, the impact of the green label on bond pricing has not...

Following the upset of the financial crisis, and especially after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Governments in advanced economies have provided support to the fi nancial sector to help restoring its normal functioning and to avoid the widening of the meltdown. Banking CDS premia climbed from...

Based on qualitative empirical research, we examine the extent to which Central European emerging stock markets were affected by the recent international financial crisis, and how the current investment climate influences investments in Polish equities. We find that global financial crisis...

Risk premia are significantly elevated during periods of democratization in a cross-country panel of equity data covering 85 countries over 200 years, despite little evidence of a negative effect on either realized or expected GDP and dividends. This result is explained in an asset pricing model...