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A0821
Title: Debt-stabilizing properties of GDP-linked securities: A macro-finance perspective Authors:  Sarah Mouabbi - Banque de France (France) [presenting]
Jean-Paul Renne - HEC University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
Jean-Guillaume Sahuc - Banque de France (France)
Abstract: The debt-stabilizing properties of indexing debt to GDP are studied using a consumption-based macro-finance model. To this end, we derive quasi-analytical pricing formulas for any type of bond or equity by exploiting the discretization of the state-space, which makes large-scale simulations tractable. Such pricing formulas are feasible thanks to an approximation of the risk-neutral dynamics -- a novelty in this class of models. Three results stand out. First, GDP-linked security prices would embed sizable and time-varying risk premiums of about 40 basis points. Second, for a fixed budget surplus, issuing GDP-linked securities does not necessarily imply more beneficial debt-to-GDP ratios in the medium- to long-run. Third, the debt-stabilizing budget surplus is more predictable under such issuances at the expense of being higher on average. Our findings call into question the view that GDP-linked securities tame debt.