Sovereign spreads can be broken up into two components: the expected loss from default and the risk premium, with the latter reflecting how investors price the risk of unexpected losses. We show that the risk premium is often the larger part of the spread

This paper examines the recent behavior of sovereign interest rates in the euro area, focusing on the 10 year yield spreads relative to Germany for Italy and other euro area countries. Both previous analyses and the new evidence presented in the paper suggest that, in recent months, for several...

Public debt levels in advanced economies have increased dramatically over recent years and they could put considerable upward pressure on market yields. Using a novel identification approach based on financial accounts and focusing on panel regressions for 18 advanced economies over the period...

The term structure of interest rates plays a central role in the valuation, pricing and management of interest rate dependent securities. In this paper I focus on the application of the B-Spline methodology to construct zero coupon and forward rate curves for the swap market. By allowing the...