Safe Assets

Markus K. Brunnermeier, Sebastian Merkel, Yuliy Sannikov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The price of a safe asset reflects not only the expected discounted future cash flows but also future service flows, since retrading allows partial insurance of idiosyncratic risk in an incomplete markets setting. This lowers the issuers’ interest burden. As idiosyncratic risk rises during recessions, so does the value of the service flows bestowing the safe asset with a negative b. The resulting exorbitant privilege resolves government debt valuation puzzles and allows the government to run a permanent (primary) deficit without ever paying back its debt, but the government faces a debt Laffer curve.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3603-3657
Number of pages55
JournalJournal of Political Economy
Volume132
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2024

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Economics and Econometrics

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