Does a Good ESG Score Lower Sovereign Borrowing Costs, or Does Cheaper Credit Leave More Room to Do ESG?

Lupin Rahman, senior economist at PIMCO, is one of the gurus of the sovereign debt market. She is one of the very few who can talk with deep knowledge about the details of the fine print in sovereign debt contracts, the macro context of debt markets, and the importance of various Official Sector initiatives. We ask her about all of those matters, starting with the new popularity of ESG investing, the benefits and costs of these green and social strategies for sovereigns and investors (a topic on which Lupin and her co authors have a fascinating new paper, https://jfi.pm-research.com/content/early/2021/05/01/jfi.2021.1.112.abstract ) and ending up with QE and inflation fears.

Producer: Leanna Doty