Sovereign Bond Yield Spillovers in the Euro Zone During the Financial and Debt Crisis

Antonakakis, Nikolaos and Vergos, Konstantinos (2012): Sovereign Bond Yield Spillovers in the Euro Zone During the Financial and Debt Crisis.

Abstract

In this paper we examine the linkages of government bond yield spreads (BYS) between Euro zone countries over the period March 3, 2007 - June 18, 2012, thus considering the intriguing features of BYS spillovers during the global financial and the Euro zone debt crisis. Splitting our sample to Euro zone periphery and core countries, and using the VAR-based spillover index approach of Diebold and Yilmaz (2012), we find that: (i) on average, BYS shocks tend to increase future BYS, and are related to news announcements and policy changes; (ii) BYS spillovers between Euro zone countries are highly intertwined, originating mostly from the periphery (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain (GIIPS)) and to a lesser extent from the core (Austria, Belgium, France and Netherlands (ABFN)). The within-effect of BYS spillovers is of greater magnitude within the periphery than that within the core; iv) The between-effect (core vs periphery) of BYS spillovers suggests directional spillovers of greater magnitude from the periphery to the Euro zone core than vice-versa. Generalized impulse response analyses provide additional support to these findings. Our findings highlight the increased vulnerability of Euro zone from the destabilizing shocks originating from the beleaguered Euro zone countries in the periphery.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Government bond yield spread; Euro Zone debt crisis; Spillover; Vector autoregression;p Variance decomposition; Impulse response
• Subjects: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models ; Multiple Variables > C32 - Time-Series Models ; Dynamic Quantile Regressions ; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models ; Diffusion Processes ; State Space Models; G - Financial Economics > G1 - General Financial Markets > G11 - Portfolio Choice ; Investment Decisions; G - Financial Economics > G1 - General Financial Markets > G12 - Asset Pricing ; Trading Volume ; Bond Interest Rates; G - Financial Economics > G1 - General Financial Markets > G15 - International Financial Markets; H - Public Economics > H6 - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt > H63 - Debt ; Debt Management ; Sovereign Debt; G - Financial Economics > G0 - General > G01 - Financial Crises

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