The Baring Crisis and the great Latin American meltdown of the 1890s

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Santa Clara University; Claremont Colleges; Claremont Graduate University; Claremont McKenna College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050708000375
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 462-500
• 关键词: gold standard; GLOBALIZATION; contagion; RECOVERY

摘要

The Baring Crisis is the nineteenth century's most famous sovereign debt crisis. Using a database of more than 15,000 observations, we assess its effect on emerging market borrowers and find empirical evidence of a regional crisis but not a global crisis. During the crisis, Latin American yield spreads increased by more than 200 basis points relative to the rest of the world, even after controlling for macroeconomic, trade, political-institutional factors, and other country-specific effects. Our evidence suggests that European investors may have sold off or reduced their holdings of Latin American securities in the wake of the Baring Crisis.