Who Holds Sovereign Debt and Why It Matters

A-Tier
Journal: The Review of Financial Studies
Year: 2025
Volume: 38
Issue: 8
Pages: 2326-2361

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

This paper studies whether investor composition affects the sovereign debt market. We construct a data set of sovereign debt holdings by foreign and domestic bank, nonbank private and official investors for 101 countries across three decades. Compared with other investors, private nonbank investors absorb a disproportionate share of the debt supply, and their demand for emerging market debt is most price responsive. A counterfactual analysis of emerging market sovereigns shows a 10% increase in debt leads to a 5.8% yield increase but an outsized 8.4% increase without nonbank investors. We conclude that sovereigns are vulnerable to the loss of nonbanks.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:rfinst:v:38:y:2025:i:8:p:2326-2361.
Journal Field
Finance
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25