Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/19684 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper Series 1 No. 2007,07
Publisher: 
Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
We identify investor moral hazard in the German fiscal federation. Our identification strategy is based on a variable, which was used by the German Federal Constitutional Court as an indicator to determine eligibility of two German states (Länder) to a bail-out, the interest payments-to-revenue ratio. While risk premia measured in the German sub-national bond market react significantly to the relative debt level of a state (Land), we also find that a larger interest payments-to-revenue ratio counter-intuitively lowers risk premia significantly. Furthermore, with increasing values the risk premia decrease more strongly. This is evidence of investor moral hazard, because a larger indicator value increases the likelihood of receiving a bail-out payment. Quantitatively, the effects are, however, quite small. Our findings are robust to a variety of sample changes. In addition, we provide a case study of the recent Federal Constitutional Court ruling on the Land Berlin, which had filed for additional federal funds. The negative response of the court did not lead to a change in financial markets' bail-out expectations. In sum, our results indicate significant investor moral hazard in the sub-national German bond market.
Subjects: 
moral hazard
bail-out
sovereign bond spreads
fiscal federalism
Germany
JEL: 
F34
H6
H7
G14
G15
E62
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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