Is the risk-free rate still risk-free?

Lupin Rahman, PhD, is a senior macroeconomist, sovereign debt specialist, and former head of sovereign credit and emerging markets portfolio manager at PIMCO, with over 25 years of experience across the IMF, World Bank, and global capital markets, and author of The Sovereign Debt Investor (Wiley Finance).

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3:00 — Lupin recalls growing up with her grandmother in Bangladesh, a powerful matriarch who managed rice markets, bargaining, inventory timing, and informal community insurance — an early blueprint for sovereign economics.5:00 — The mindset shift from IMF/World Bank policymaker to PIMCO investor: "Policy advice lives in a world of intent and markets essentially price outcomes."7:30 — Sovereign debt has survived thousands of years because it bridges the gap between government spending today and tax collection over time — productive use strengthens economies, unproductive use "starts borrowing from the future."9:15 — Guided tour of the sovereign debt landscape: borrower type, currency risk, instrument structure, legal framework, investor base, and collateral.13:45 — How sovereign credit analysis differs from equities: analyzing tax capacity, monetary policy, political constraints, institutional frameworks — and the unique power governments hold over creditors.17:15 — Bond valuation essentials: yield, duration, and convexity explained. "Maturity is not the same as duration."20:00 — Return of capital vs. return on capital — and how modern bond trading evolved from "clipping the coupon" to active portfolio management.24:00 — Why a 100-year bond doesn't mean a 100-year holding period.27:20 — Credit ratings: useful for benchmarking and regulation, but markets move well before rating changes. Investors should do their own analysis.33:25 — Policy credibility: measured not by speeches but by tradeoffs — incentive alignment, willingness to accept short-term pain, and institutional strength.37:15 — Sovereign debt restructurings as political coordination problems, not just financial engineering exercises.40:50 — Is the risk-free rate obsolete? Credit risk vs. supply absorption risk in advanced economies.47:50 — Fiscal dominance, financial repression, and Japan's 260% debt-to-GDP challenge.51:40 — AI can process data and identify patterns, but hasn't replaced judgment — understanding politics and incentives remains human work.54:06 — Lupin defines success through the Japanese concept of Ikigai: doing what you're good at, what the world needs, what aligns with your values, and what you can get paid for.

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