In this article, we examine the relations between risk, the choice of foreign or local contract terms (parameters), and maturity in the sovereign debt market. Our primary finding is that the maturities of bonds that carry a meaningful degree of risk are greater when the bonds are written under foreign parameters. This finding is consistent with the Credible Commitment Theory. Relinquishing certain key contractual parameters (governing law, jurisdiction, currency, listing) precludes the issuing sovereign from taking actions that would diminish the wealth of its bondholders after the bonds have been issued. Correspondingly, the yield on lower-grade bonds, written under foreign parameters, is less than the yield on bonds written under local parameters. Investors are willing to pay a premium for lower-grade bonds if they are written in foreign parameters. Finally, we find a positive relation between maturity and S&P ratings for the subsample of lower-grade bonds. However, we find no such relation for the subset of high-grade bonds.

中文翻译：

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主权债务市场的风险、合同条款和到期日

在本文中，我们研究了风险、外国或本地合同条款（参数）的选择以及主权债务市场的成熟度之间的关系。我们的主要发现是，当债券按照外国参数发行时，具有一定风险程度的债券的期限会更长。这一发现与可信承诺理论是一致的。放弃某些关键合同参数（管辖法律、管辖权、货币、上市）可以防止发行主权国家在债券发行后采取会减少债券持有人财富的行动。相应地，根据外国参数计算的低等级债券的收益率低于根据本地参数计算的债券收益率。如果低等级债券采用外国参数，投资者愿意支付溢价。最后，我们发现低等级债券子样本的期限与标准普尔评级之间存在正相关关系。然而，我们发现高级债券的子集不存在这种关系。