The End of the Risk-Free Rate: Investing When Structural Forces Change Government Debt


Book Description

A NEW FINANCIAL STRATEGY FOR A NEW FINANCIAL WORLD As an investor, you've probably taken advantage of the risk-free rates in the postcrash economy by putting your money into bonds, stocks, commodities, and currencies. With the rise of government debt across the globe, you can no longer rely on the notion of "safe" to perform as expected. You need to adapt your investing strategy to a new financial reality. Filled with expert tips, this step-by-step guide walks you through all of your investment options, showing you how each will be affected by the end of the risk-free rate. You'll learn: What you should know before buying bonds and Treasury bills How to recognize and invest in the strongest emerging markets How to choose between government and corporate options What the debt-to-GDP ratio means for you and your investments How to evaluate foreign markets in the rapidly changing global economy With the author's guidance, you'll discover that you don't need to stop investing in government bonds and other popular options--you just need to invest differently. You'll learn about combining liquid means, ETFs, mutual funds, and individual securities. You'll gain insights into market depth, liquidity, and capital flows--and how they change depending on regulations, costs, and other factors. You'll see how the debt situations in countries like Mexico and Italy can have an immediate impact on investors around the world. You’ll find new ways to think about investing in a changing economic landscape. Most importantly, you'll learn how to assess risk in different markets. An essential guide in these fascinating times, The End of the Risk-Free Rate marks a new beginning for today's investor.




The Financial Domino Effect: How to Profit Now in the Volatile Global Economy


Book Description

Predict and profit from the chain reactions of market turmoil “If you care about the inner dynamics and investors’ reactions to the emerging new financial world that will increasingly consist of ‘path-dependent, multimodal, fat-tailed outcomes,’ Ben Emons’s new book is a must-read. In a coherent and clear framework, Ben shows how falling dominoes in a world of fast markets and uniquely new possibili¬ties creates a market landscape we might never have prepared for.” —Vineer Bhansali, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, PIMCO “At some point after getting your financial life in order, you may well have money to invest. Where should you put it, especially when worldwide markets are in flux? Ben Emons, a senior vice president at Pimco, the investment company that runs the world’s largest bond fund, addresses that question in The Financial Domino Effect.” —The New York Times “A great book; it’s a very smart book. This is not general reading but it’s something accessible to anyone." —Tom Keene, Bloommberg Radio When a major political or financial event happens, the impact disseminates like a contagion across markets and sovereign boundaries. Like a row of toppling dominoes, the effect of the crisis accelerates along various paths. The Financial Domino Effect enables you to benefit from these moving catastrophes and helps you navigate current changes taking place in governmental and financial systems. At the heart of this progressive book is a powerful framework for analyzing and interpreting the variety of connected influences in the three main domino effects categories—social-political, economic, and financial. By examining the aftermath of such recent milestone events as the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the Middle East protests, it shows you how to apply domino theory to become a more knowledgeable and astute portfolio manager. Written with the everyday inves¬tor in mind, this hands-on resource takes you to the next level by delving into such consequential topics as: How easily complex domino effects can become and what it means to your portfolio Six symptoms in the aftermath of a financial or sovereign crisis Post–financial crisis responses, such as quantitative easing (QE), credit easing, and competitive quantitative easing (CQE) How the dissemination and speed of domino effects relate to monetary transmission The second part of the book goes into great depth examining the euro zone debt crisis through the framework. This crisis is particularly unique because it is a domino effect of three kinds—social, economic, and financial—and it has not fully played out. This timely guide takes you step by step through the crisis to a final analysis. In the end, you will be prepared to plan for the myriad of far-reaching consequences and balance your portfolio. Financial crises will happen with high frequency. The Financial Domino Effect helps you stay on top when it all goes down.




German Bond Yields and Debt Supply: Is There a “Bund Premium”?


Book Description

Are Bunds special? This paper estimates the “Bund premium” as the difference in convenience yields between other sovereign safe assets and German government bonds adjusted for sovereign credit risk, liquidity and swap market frictions. A higher premium suggests less substitutability of sovereign bonds. We document a rise in the “Bund premium” in the post-crisis period. We show that there is a negative relationship of the premium with the relative supply of German sovereign bonds, which is more pronounced for higher maturities and when risk aversion proxied by bond market volatility is high. Going forward, we expect German government debt supply to remain scarce, with important implications for the ECB’s monetary policy strategy.




A Primer on Managing Sovereign Debt-Portfolio Risks


Book Description

This paper provides an overview of sovereign debt portfolio risks and discusses various liability management operations (LMOs) and instruments used by public debt managers to mitigate these risks. Debt management strategies analyzed in the context of helping reach debt portfolio targets and attain desired portfolio structures. Also, the paper outlines how LMOs could be integrated into a debt management strategy and serve as policy tools to reduce potential debt portfolio vulnerabilities. Further, the paper presents operational issues faced by debt managers, including the need to develop a risk management framework, interactions of debt management with fiscal policy, monetary policy, and financial stability, as well as efficient government bond markets.




The Liquidation of Government Debt


Book Description

High public debt often produces the drama of default and restructuring. But debt is also reduced through financial repression, a tax on bondholders and savers via negative or belowmarket real interest rates. After WWII, capital controls and regulatory restrictions created a captive audience for government debt, limiting tax-base erosion. Financial repression is most successful in liquidating debt when accompanied by inflation. For the advanced economies, real interest rates were negative 1⁄2 of the time during 1945–1980. Average annual interest expense savings for a 12—country sample range from about 1 to 5 percent of GDP for the full 1945–1980 period. We suggest that, once again, financial repression may be part of the toolkit deployed to cope with the most recent surge in public debt in advanced economies.




Global Trends 2040


Book Description

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.




Global Waves of Debt


Book Description

The global economy has experienced four waves of rapid debt accumulation over the past 50 years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging market and developing economies. During the current wave, which started in 2010, the increase in debt in these economies has already been larger, faster, and broader-based than in the previous three waves. Current low interest rates mitigate some of the risks associated with high debt. However, emerging market and developing economies are also confronted by weak growth prospects, mounting vulnerabilities, and elevated global risks. A menu of policy options is available to reduce the likelihood that the current debt wave will end in crisis and, if crises do take place, will alleviate their impact.




Guidance Note For Developing Government Local Currency Bond Markets


Book Description

This guidance note was prepared by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group staff under a project undertaken with the support of grants from the Financial Sector Reform and Strengthening Initiative, (FIRST).The aim of the project was to deliver a report that provides emerging market and developing economies with guidance and a roadmap in developing their local currency bond markets (LCBMs). This note will also inform technical assistance missions in advising authorities on the formulation of policies to deepen LCBMs.




American Default


Book Description

The untold story of how FDR did the unthinkable to save the American economy.




Banks, Government Bonds, and Default


Book Description

We analyze holdings of public bonds by over 20,000 banks in 191 countries, and the role of these bonds in 20 sovereign defaults over 1998-2012. Banks hold many public bonds (on average 9% of their assets), particularly in less financially-developed countries. During sovereign defaults, banks increase their exposure to public bonds, especially large banks and when expected bond returns are high. At the bank level, bondholdings correlate negatively with subsequent lending during sovereign defaults. This correlation is mostly due to bonds acquired in pre-default years. These findings shed light on alternative theories of the sovereign default-banking crisis nexus.