Decomposing Euro Area Sovereign Spreads: Credit, Liquidity and Convenience

Abstract

We conduct an empirical analysis of sovereign bond spreads for a selected number of euro area countries. We analyze several methodologies to measure and to assess the relative importance of three components of sovereign spreads: credit premia, liquidity premia and convenience yields. We find that, except for Germany, credit premia explain the bulk of the level and variability in sovereign spreads, while liquidity premia and convenience yields seem to play a limited role, although they are in several cases statistically significant and they can become economically relevant during short episodes of illiquidity.

Keywords: sovereign spreads, liquidity premia, convenience yields

JEL Classification: G12