This thesis provides evidence of how macroeconomic surprises, constructed as deviations from market expectations, impact daily spread changes of Czech, Polish and Hungarian (CEEC-3) government bonds and sovereign credit default swaps. Firstly, we carried out series of event studies that inspect the spreads' reactions to the announcements. Subsequently, we employed the general-to-specific modeling approach and arrived at thirty GARCH-type models that consider surprises' impact on both conditional mean and variance. We have found significant impacts on the mean, yet in terms of magnitude, the impact of macroeconomic surprises has not been superior to that of broad financial factors. The impact on spreads' volatility appears more consequential though it lacks a clear pattern: Both good and bad news have been found to affect the volatility in either direction. Our findings suggest that with respect to macroeconomic news, daily changes of the bond spreads are driven rather by inflation expectations than by credit risk considerations. Foreign news proxied by the German surprises seems to affect the CEEC-3 bond spreads mainly through the risk-free proxy - the German Bund yield. Contrary to studies using low-frequency macroeconomic data, we have found no evidence for the "wake-up call" hypothesis.

The purpose of the study is to analyse and to compare the reign of two rulers of Francia Orientalis - Henry II and Henry III. The reason for the author's research is that the conception of the legitimization of kingship is nowadays a highly discussed issue and it is one of the most significant tasks the medieval research is facing. Methods used in this study are analysis and comparison. The study is composed of six chapters, each of them dealing with different aspect of the legitimization of kingship. Chapter One is introductory and defines basic terminology used in the study. Chapter Two examines relevant specialized discursus. Chapter Three deals with the sources of medieval thinking and consists of three parts. Part One explains the terms of sacrality and legitimacy. Part Two focuses on the roots of sacral kingship. Part Three investigates the history of legitimization of kingship in the Frankish Empire. Chapter Four is subdivided into four parts and it mainly provides an outline of Henry's II reign and examines relevant historical sources. Part One discusses the policy of Henry's predecessor Otto III. Part Two is an analysis of relevant historical sources. Part Three examines Henry's policy. Intermediate conclusions are drawn in Part Four. Chapter Five endeavours to explain and analyse the...

This thesis analyses long and short-term perception of announcements issued by leading credit rating agencies (Fitch, Moody's and S&P) in sovereign bond markets. Using three empirical approaches we assess the nature of impact of CRAs on 10Y sovereign bond yields and 5Y CDS of 24 countries of EU between 2002 and 2012. We find significant response of sovereign bond yield and CDS spreads to downgrades and negative outlooks. Furthermore there is evidence of anticipative power of sovereign bond markets in foreseeing negative events implying CRAs lag the market. The spillover effect from credit rating announcements has been revealed between both EMU and non-EMU parts of EU implying the financial integration is not limited only to countries with common currency. Well performing economies outside EMU are resistant to contagion. JEL Classification C23, F34, G10, G14, G15 Keywords credit rating; credit default swap; rating agency; sovereign bond; EU Author's e-mail tomhav@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail roman.horvath@gmail.com

The efficient market hypothesis has been around since 1962, the theory based on a simple rule that states the price of any asset must fully reflect all available information. Yet there is empirical evidence suggesting that markets are too volatile to be efficient. In essence, this evidence seems to suggest that the reaction of the market participants to the information or events that is the crucial factor, rather than the actual information. This highlights the need to include the behavioural finance theory in the pricing of assets. Essentially, the research aims to analyse the efficiency of six key sovereign debt markets during a period of changing volatility including the recent global financial and sovereign debt crises. We analyse the markets in the pre-crisis period and during the financial and sovereign debt crises to determine the impact of the crises on the efficiency of these financial markets. We use two GARCH-based variance bound tests to test the null hypothesis of the market being too volatile to be efficient. Proposing a GJR-GARCH variant of the variance bound test to account for variation in the asymmetrical effect. This leads to an analysis of the changing behaviour of price volatility to identify what makes the market efficient or inefficient. In general, our EMH tests resulted in mixed results, hinting at the acceptance of the null hypothesis of the market being too volatile to be efficient. However, interestingly a number of 2017 observations under both models seem to be hinting at the rejection of the null hypothesis. Furthermore, our proposed GJR-GARCH variant of the variance bound test seems to be more likely to accept the EMH than the GARCH variant of the test.

In chapter 1, I investigate the return links and dynamic conditional correlations between the equity and commodity returns for G7 countries from 2000:01 to 2014:10. The commodity futures include BCOM Index which contains the futures and spot price of 22 commodities, Brent and Crude oil futures, gold and silver futures, Wheat, Corn and Soybean futures and CRB index. The finding indicates that during the full sample period GOLD, WHEAT and CORN have the smallest dynamic conditional correlations with all the Equity indexes. In addition, the correlations between the GOLD/Equity pairs are negative during the financial crisis. This fact indicates the benefit of hedging the stock portfolios with gold futures while we have stress in the financial markets. The results from hedging effectiveness suggest that all the commodity/stock portfolios provide better diversification benefits than the stock portfolios. In average, including CRB, BCOM and GOLD futures to the stock portfolios have the highest hedging effectiveness ratios. Chapter 2 investigates the impact of global and local variables on the Sovereign bond spreads for 22 developed countries in North America, Europe and Pacific Rim Regions, using monthly data from January 2010 to March 2015. There are a few main findings of this chaper. First, the global factors are considerably more important in déterminant the sovereign bond spreads for all the regions. Second, for the bond spread of each region over its local government bond, the countries’ domestic fundamentals are found to be more influential determinants of the spreads, compared to the spread over US government bond as a safe haven government bond. Third, the bond spreads in the Eurozone area is less influenced by the global factors compared to the other regions. Fourth, the sovereign bond spreads of all regions are positively related to the US corporate high yield spreads as a proxy of market sentiment and the log of VIX index as measurement for the investor risk aversion. The coefficient of the log of VIX index shows the strong power of the stock market implied volatility on determining the yield spreads in the fixed income market.

This dissertation comprises two essays; the first of which investigates sovereign credit risk interdependencies, while the second examines the reaction of corporate credit risk to sovereign credit risk events. The first essay titled, Characterizing Sovereign Credit Risk Interdependencies: Evidence from the Credit Default Swap Market, investigates the relationships that exist among disparate sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) and the implications on sovereign creditworthiness. We exploit emerging market sovereign CDS spreads to examine the reaction of sovereign credit risk to changes in country-specific and global financial factors. Utilizing aVAR model fitted with DCC GARCH, we find that comovements of spreads generally exhibit significant time-varying correlations, suggesting that spreads are commonly affected by global financial factors. We construct 19 country-specific commodity price indexes to instrument for country terms of trade, obtaining significant results. Our commodity price indexes account for significant variation in CDS spreads, controlling for global financial factors. In addition, sovereign spreads are found to be related to U.S. stock market returns and the VIX volatility risk premium global factors. Notwithstanding, our results suggest that terms of trade and commodity prices have a statistically and economically significant effect on the sovereign credit risk of emerging economies. Our results apply broadly to investors, financial institutions and policy makers motivated to utilize profitable factors in global portfolios. The second essay is titled, Differential Stock Market Returns and Corporate Credit Risk of Listed Firms. This essay explores the information transfer effect of shocks to sovereign credit risk as captured in the CDS and stock market returns of cross-listed and local stock exchange listed firms. Based on changes in sovereign credit ratings and outlooks, we find that widening CDS spreads of firms imply that negative credit events dominate, whereas tightening spreads indicate positive events. Grouping firms into companies with cross-listings and those without, we compare the spillover effects and find strong evidence of contagion across equity and CDS markets in both company groupings. Our findings suggest that the sensitivity of corporate CDS prices to sovereign credit events is significantly larger for non-cross-listed firms. Possible reasons for this finding could in fact be due to cross-listed firms’ better access to external capital and less degree of asymmetric information, relative to non-cross-listed peers with lower level of investor recognition. Our results provide new evidence relevant to investors and financial institutions in determining sovereign credit risk germane to corporate financial risk, for the construction of debt and equity portfolios, and hedging considerations in today’s dynamic environment.

Each essay in this doctoral dissertation relates to a recent feature of sovereign finance in emerging market economies. In each article, I extend a quantitative macroeconomic model of sovereign debt and default to answer a particular question. In the first chapter, I investigate whether it is better for emerging countries to issue external debt denominated in local or foreign currency using a model with real exchange rates and inflation. I show how the welfare comparisons between the two options of debt denomination depend on the credibility of the monetary policy. In the next essay, I analyze the joint accumulation of sovereign debt and international reserves by emerging countries\' governments. In this theoretical framework, international reserves are a form of precautionary savings that can be used to smooth consumption even after a sovereign default. Statistics calculated with simulated data from a model with partial sovereign default indicate that the combined acquisition of assets and liabilities is an optimal policy in this type of model. In the last chapter, I examine whether low international risk-free interest rates, as observed in developed countries since the most recent global financial crisis, lead to a search for yield - identified via lower spreads even under higher default risk - in emerging markets sovereign bonds. I find that the inclusion of loss averse foreign lenders, a trait highlighted by the behavioral finance literature, in a standard model of sovereign default generates this result. / Cada ensaio desta tese trata de uma característica recente das finanças soberanas em economias de mercado emergentes. Em cada artigo, amplia-se um modelo macroeconômico quantitativo de dívida e default soberanos para responder a uma questão específica. No primeiro capítulo, investiga-se se é melhor para os países emergentes emitir dívida externa denominada em moeda local ou estrangeira usando um modelo com taxa de câmbio real e inflação. Mostra-se como as comparações de bem-estar entre as duas opções de denominação da dívida dependem da credibilidade da política monetária. No segundo ensaio, analisa-se a acumulação conjunta de dívida soberana e reservas internacionais pelos governos dos países emergentes. Nesse arcabouço teórico, as reservas internacionais são uma forma preventiva de poupança que pode ser usada para suavizar o consumo mesmo depois de um default soberano. As estatísticas calculadas com dados simulados de um modelo com default soberano parcial indicam que a aquisição simultânea de ativos e passivos é uma política ótima nesse tipo de modelo. No último capítulo, examina-se se as baixas taxas de juros livres de risco internacionais, observadas em países desenvolvidos desde a mais recente crise financeira global, levaram a uma busca por rentabilidade - identificada por meio de spreads menores mesmo sob maior risco de default - nos títulos soberanos de mercados emergentes. Verifica-se que a inclusão de investidores estrangeiros avessos a perdas, característica destacada pela literatura de finanças comportamentais, em um modelo padrão de default soberano gera esse resultado.

[pt] A presente dissertação analisa a proposta apresentada, no final de 2001, por Anne Krueger, vice-diretora gerente do Fundo Monetário Internacional, para a criação de um mecanismo para facilitar a reestruturação da dívida soberana de países com perfil de endividamento insustentável. Ao menos em teoria, esse mecanismo, chamado em inglês de Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism (SDRM), contribuiria para coordenar credores e devedores, tornar os processos de reestruturação mais rápidos e ordenados, diminuir o risco de crises de endividamento, promover ganhos para todos os envolvidos na cooperação e contribuir para a estabilidade do mercado de capitais internacional. Ainda assim, foi rejeitado por credores privados, por alguns devedores como o Brasil e o México e pelo governo norte-americano. Utilizando como arcabouço teórico o construtivismo de normas de Friedrich Kratochwil, este estudo pretende responder por que ocorreu essa reação. A análise dos documentos produzidos pelos defensores (especialmente membros do staff do FMI) e pelos críticos do SDRM no curso do debate que se seguiu até a rejeição formal do mecanismo, em reuniões do Fundo realizadas em abril de 2003, sugere como resposta que a reação contrária dos credores privados e dos devedores pode ser atribuída a profundas divergências de interpretação quanto ao conteúdo e ao papel das normas no mercado de capitais internacional. / [en] This dissertation analyzes the proposal for the creation of a mechanism for restructuring sovereign debt of countries with unsustainable debt burdens, presented in the end of 2001 by Anne Krueger, deputy manager director of the International Monetary Fund. Using Friedrich Kratochwil´s rule-based constructivism as its theoretical framework, this dissertation intends to answer why the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism (SDRM) was rejected by private creditors, by debtors such as Brazil and Mexico, and by the US government, even though it could, at least theoretically, contribute in the coordination of creditors and debtors, make restructuring processes quicker and orderly, reduce the risk of debt crises, and bring benefits and stability to the market and its participants. The review of the documents prepared by the defenders (especially those among the staff of the IMF) and the critics of the SDRM during the debate which ended with its formal rejection in the beginning of 2003, suggests that the reactions of private creditors and debtors can be attributed to deep-seated differences in the interpretation of the content and role of norms in the international capital market.

Die Arbeit befasst sich mit ökonomischen Effekten der rechtlichen Durchsetzung von Staatsschulden. Die Literatur nimmt weitgehend an, dass diese größtenteils irrelevant sind. Die Dissertation präsentiert neu erstellte Datensätze über Anlegerklagen in den USA und UK, und verbindet diese mit Finanzmarktdaten. Die zentralen Ergebnisse sind: (1) Staatsschuldenkrisen sind zunehmend begleitet von Anlegerklagen, wenn auch die Zahl gering ist. Klagen sind wahrscheinlicher wenn Regierungen hohe Verluste auf ihre Gläubiger abwälzen. Sie können zudem signifikante Kosten durch die Versperrung des Finanzmarktzugangs mit sich bringen. Insbesondere spezialisierte Investoren führen Klagen, und die vertragliche Gestaltung der Anleihen bedingt Teilnahme- und Klageraten. (2) Marktpreise spiegeln diese Entwicklungen wider. Die Marktliquidität nimmt während Schuldenkrisen signifikant ab und Staatsanleihen, die bessere rechtliche Durchsetzungsmöglichkeiten versprechen, werden zu höheren Preisen gehandelt. / This thesis studies the economic impact of legal enforcement of sovereign debt. The literature assumes that legal enforcement mechanisms are largely irrelevant. The thesis presents newly assembled datasets on lawsuits filed by private investors against governments in the US and the UK, and connects them with financial market data. The main findings are: (1) Sovereign defaults are increasingly subject to investor lawsuits, although the numbers are still small. Lawsuits are more likely if governments impose large losses on their creditors. Litigation can create significant costs by affecting governments'' financial market access. Distressed investors are especially likely to file suit, and contract design is a significant predictor of participation and litigation. (2) Sovereign bond pricing reflects these developments. Market liquidity decreases significantly during debt crises. Furthermore, sovereign bonds with stronger legal protection trade at higher prices during financial crises.

[pt] Nesta pesquisa documenta-se um novo canal de contágio internacional. Estuda-se o mercado de dívida soberana de Londres no período pré-1914, no qual, dada a ausência de agências internacionais de monitoramento e altos custos de coleta de informação, a intermediação financeira representou um papel importante na transmissão de informações aos investidores. A partir da análise de dois eventos de crise financeira - o Funding Loan brasileiro em 1898 e o Funding loan grego em 1893 - mostra-se que os preços de títulos públicos de países sem ligações econômicas com os países em que as crises se originaram, mas que mantinham relacionamento com os mesmos intermediários financeiros, sofreram uma significante redução relativa logo após a ciência dos investidores sobre as crises. Este resultado sugere que os investidores extraíram informação sobre a qualidade do crédito dos países com base na existência de relações credorintermediário financeiro. Este spillover é, em essência, informativo e não derivado de fundamentos econômicos em comum ou regras de realinhamento de portfólio. / [en] In this research I document a novel type of international financial contagion, whose driving force is shared financial intermediary. I study the London peripheral sovereign debt market the pre-1914 period, in which, given the absence of international monitoring agencies and substantial agency costs, financial intermediation played a major informational role to investors. Analyzing two events of financial distress - the Brazilian Funding Loan of 1898 and the Greek Funding Loan of 1893 - I find that the bond prices of countries with no meaningful commercial relations with the distressed countries, but which shared the same financial intermediary, suffered a reduction relative to the rest of the market just after the market learned about the crises, evidencing that investor were extracting information about the soundness of a debtor based on the financial intermediate which vouched the issued. This spillover is informational in essence, and arises as the flip-side of the relational lending coin: the same reason which explains why relational finance (in this case, underwriting) helps alleviate informational and incentive problems also produce contagion.