2025 Theses Doctoral

Essays in Finance and International Macroeconomics

Dos Santos, Amanda

This dissertation is composed of three essays in finance and international macroeconomics, which share a common focus on sovereign debt markets, capital market development, and cross-border financial linkages.

The first essay provides causal evidence that government debt plays a crucial role in facilitating the development of corporate bond markets. Using micro-level data from Brazil, it demonstrates that at early stages of market development, government debt complements corporate debt issuance by providing pricing benchmarks and facilitating price discovery, though this relationship shifts toward substitution as markets mature.

The second essay empirically characterizes China's approach to internationalizing its bond market through the staggered entry of different types of foreign investors and develops a dynamic reputation model to explain this strategy. This analysis reveals how China attempts to build credibility as a safe issuer while simultaneously minimizing the risks of capital flight.

Building upon these findings, the third essay documents China's dramatic rise in offshore capital markets, showing how Chinese firms use global tax havens to access foreign capital.