This paper explains and evaluates three proposals to create "safe assets" for the euro area based on sovereign bonds, in which sovereign risk is limited through diversification and some form of seniority. These assets would be held by banks and other financial institutions, replacing concentrated exposures to their own sovereigns. The paper focuses on three ideas: (1) to create multitranche "sovereign bond-backed securities" (SBBS), of which the senior tranche would constitute a safe asset; (2) to create a senior, publicly owned financial intermediary that would issue a bond backed by a diversified portfolio of sovereign loans ("E-bonds"); and (3) to issue sovereign bonds in several tranches and induce banks to hold a diversified pool of senior sovereign bonds ("multitranche national bond issuance"). Public attention (including public criticism) has so far focused on the first idea; the other two have not yet been seriously debated. We find that none of the competing proposals entirely dominates the others. SBBS do not deserve most of the criticism to which they have been subjected. At the same time, E-bond and multi-tranche national bond issuance have several interesting features--including inducing fiscal discipline--and warrant further exploration.

中文翻译：

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创建欧元区安全资产而不会共同承担风险（很多）

本文解释并评估了基于主权债券为欧元区创建“安全资产”的三项建议，其中通过多样化和某种形式的资历来限制主权风险。这些资产将由银行和其他金融机构持有，取代对本国主权的集中敞口。该论文主要围绕三个想法：（1）创建多档“主权债券支持证券”（SBBS），其中高级档将构成安全资产；(2) 创建一个高级的、公有的金融中介机构，发行由多元化主权贷款组合支持的债券（“E-bonds”）；(3) 分批发行主权债券，并诱使银行持有多元化的高级主权债券池（“多批国家债券发行”）。迄今为止，公众的注意力（包括公众批评）都集中在第一个想法上；其他两个尚未认真辩论。我们发现没有一个竞争提案完全支配其他提案。SBBS 不应该受到他们所遭受的大多数批评。同时，电子债券和多期国债发行具有几个有趣的特点——包括诱导财政纪律——值得进一步探索。