Does SDDS Subscription Reduce Borrowing Costs for Emerging Market Economies,” IMF Working Paper 04/58 (Washington: International Monetary Fund

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. Does macroeconomic data transparency—as signaled by subscription to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS)—help reduce borrowing costs in private capital markets? This question is examined using detailed data on new issues of sovereign foreign currency-denominated (U.S. dollar, yen, and euro) bonds for several emerging market economies. Panel econometric estimates indicate that spreads on new bond issues decline