RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 On the Comovement of Bond Yield Spreads and Country Risk Ratings JF The Journal of Fixed Income FD Institutional Investor Journals SP 100 OP 103 DO 10.3905/jfi.1999.319248 VO 8 IS 4 A1 Bert Scholtens A1 Ramon Tol YR 1999 UL https://pm-research.com/content/8/4/100.abstract AB This article investigates whether bond yield spreads are suitable for analyzing country risk. As bond prices and bond yields are determined in the secondary market, bond yields and their spreads vis-à-vis U.S. Treasuries may provide a more continuous and reliable information base than traditional measure of country risk. In more than a dozen countries, we study the association between the yield spread and the Institutional Investor country rating in the mid-1990s. Rank correlations show that bond yields are a good reflection of country risk.