As the most liquid of instruments, benchmark bonds play an important role in price discovery. Where markets fail to create them, however, can governments do so? In Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, authorities have designated specific bonds as benchmarks. We measure these bonds' liquidity and...

Benchmark bonds help to improve market efficiency. They seem to arise spontaneously in deep and liquid markets. Can governments help to create them where markets are too small? This paper examines three emerging markets in Asia where authorities have tried: they have designated specific bonds as...