Foreign Participation in Local-Currency Bond Markets

Darden Business School Working Paper No. 05-07

FRB International Finance Discussion Paper No. 794

22 Pages Posted: 22 Jul 2005

See all articles by Francis E. Warnock

Francis E. Warnock

University of Virginia - Darden Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

John D. Burger

Loyola University Maryland - Department of Economics

Date Written: February 2004

Abstract

Countries that cannot attract foreigners to invest in their local currency bonds run the risk of currency mismatches that can result in painful crises. We analyze foreign participation in the bond markets of over 40 countries. Bond markets in less developed countries have returns characterized by high variance and negative skewness, factors that we show are eschewed by U.S. investors. While results based on a three-moment CAPM indicate that it is diversifiable idiosyncratic risk that U.S. investors shun, our analysis suggests that countries can improve foreign participation by reducing macroeconomic instability.

Keywords: home bias, emerging market debt, diversification, original sin

JEL Classification: F30, G11, G15, O16

Suggested Citation

Warnock, Francis E. and Burger, John D., Foreign Participation in Local-Currency Bond Markets (February 2004). Darden Business School Working Paper No. 05-07, FRB International Finance Discussion Paper No. 794, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=509744 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.509744

Francis E. Warnock (Contact Author)

University of Virginia - Darden Business School ( email )

P.O. Box 6550
Charlottesville, VA 22906-6550
United States
434-924-6076 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.darden.virginia.edu/warnockf/index.htm

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138-5398

John D. Burger

Loyola University Maryland - Department of Economics ( email )

4501 N. Charles St
Baltimore, MD 21210
United States
410-617-5831 (Phone)
410-617-2118 (Fax)

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