Estimating the contribution of macroeconomic factors to sovereign bond spreads in the euro area

This paper proposes a novel approach to estimating the contribution of macroeconomic factors to sovereign spreads in the euro area, defined as the spread level consistent with the country’s prevailing macroeconomic conditions. Despite the wealth of papers estimating sovereign spreads, model-dependency and lack of robustness remain key considerations. Accordingly, we propose a “thick modeling” empirical framework, based on the estimation of a wide range of models. We focus on 10-year sovereign bond yields for nine euro area countries, using a sample that covers the period January 2000 to December 2023. Our results show that observed spreads behave in line with macro-financial determinants in “normal” times. Macroeconomic determinants are also able to account for a significant fraction of the observed sovereign spread dynamics in most episodes of financial turbulence, such as the pandemic and the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, we find evidence of some deviations of sovereign spreads from their estimated values during the 2010-2012 euro area sovereign debt crisis. In this period, macroeconomic indicators are able to explain at most 26% of the observed peaks in spreads among non-core countries.