Post-graduation from the original sin problem The effects of investor participation on sovereign debt markets
The series Working Papers on Economics is published by the Office for Economic Studies at the Banco de la República (Central Bank of Colombia). The works published are provisional, and their authors are fully responsible for the opinions expressed in them, as well as for possible mistakes. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Banco de la República or its Board of Directors.
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Abstract
We evaluate the effects of the sovereign debt structure by examining various degrees of bond market participation and diversification within different bond maturities and investor type. We use a unique Colombian panel dataset, comprised of all government bond maturities in the hands of public and private institutions during 2006-2018. For identification, we propose an instrumental variable approach, specific to each investor group. We find that an increase in non-residents’ market share of a 1 percentage point reduces bond yields by 35% and lowers volatility by 0.8%, relative to their mean values. Alternatively, we see an opposite effect for both pension funds and the banking sector. Finally, we find that market concentration makes local-currency yields more sensitive to global financial shocks.