Measuring Sovereign Contagion in Europe

246 Pages Posted: 17 Mar 2012 Last revised: 4 Mar 2014

See all articles by Massimiliano Caporin

Massimiliano Caporin

University of Padua - Department of Statistical Sciences

Loriana Pelizzon

Goethe University Frankfurt - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration; Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE; Ca Foscari University of Venice - Dipartimento di Economia

Francesco Ravazzolo

Free University of Bozen-Bolzano - Faculty of Economics and Management; BI Norwegian Business School - Department of Data Science and Analytics

Roberto Rigobon

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 2014

Abstract

This paper analyzes the sovereign risk contagion using credit default swaps (CDS) and bond premiums for the major eurozone countries. By emphasizing several econometric approaches (nonlinear regression, quantile regression and Bayesian quantile regression with heteroskedasticity) we show that propagation of shocks in Europe's CDS has been remarkably constant for the period 2008-2011 even though a significant part of the sample periphery countries have been extremely affected by their sovereign debt and fiscal situations. Thus, the integration among the different eurozone countries is stable, and the risk spillover among these countries is not affected by the size of the shock, implying that so far contagion has remained subdue. Results for the CDS sample are conformed by examining bond spreads. However, the analysis of bond data shows that there is a change in the intensity of the propagation of shocks in the 2003-2006 pre-crisis period and the 2008-2011 post-Lehman one, but the coefficients actually go down, not up! All the increases in correlation we have witnessed over the last years come from larger shocks and the heteroskedasticity in the data, not from similar shocks propagated with higher intensity across Europe. This is the first paper, to our knowledge, where a Bayesian quantile regression approach is used to measure contagion. This methodology is particularly well-suited to deal with nonlinear and unstable transmission mechanisms.

Keywords: Sovereign Risk, Contagion

JEL Classification: E58, F34, F36, G12, G15

Suggested Citation

Caporin, Massimiliano and Pelizzon, Loriana and Ravazzolo, Francesco and Rigobon, Roberto, Measuring Sovereign Contagion in Europe (January 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2023756 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2023756

Massimiliano Caporin

University of Padua - Department of Statistical Sciences ( email )

Via Battisti, 241
Padova, 35121
Italy

Loriana Pelizzon (Contact Author)

Goethe University Frankfurt - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration ( email )

Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 3
Frankfurt am Main, D-60323
Germany

Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE ( email )

Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 3
Frankfurt am Main, 60323
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.safe-frankfurt.de

Ca Foscari University of Venice - Dipartimento di Economia ( email )

Cannaregio 873
Venice, 30121
Italy

Francesco Ravazzolo

Free University of Bozen-Bolzano - Faculty of Economics and Management ( email )

Via Sernesi 1
39100 Bozen-Bolzano (BZ), Bozen 39100
Italy

BI Norwegian Business School - Department of Data Science and Analytics ( email )

Nydalsveien 37
Oslo, 0484
Norway

Roberto Rigobon

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management ( email )

E52-447
Cambridge, MA 02142
United States
617-258-8374 (Phone)
617-258-6855 (Fax)

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