and quoted in New York or London. Similarly, we note that only a subset of the 1,400 bonds for which we have pricing data were in default at some point. Many bonds, therefore, appear in the bond price dataset but not in our default and haircut dataset and vice versa.

Table 2 and Figure 3 provide an overview the data coverage. This is complemented by Figure B3 in the Appendix, which shows the data coverage by country. The apparent gaps in the sovereign bond price and return data series can largely be explained by the fact that countries tapped New York and London markets irregularly. In the first half of the 19th century (after Waterloo), less than 30 countries had sovereign bonds traded in London. The sample grows markedly after 1850, especially between 1870 and 1913, a period that has been termed the “first era of financial globalization” and is characterized by large-scale capital flows from London to periphery countries. After WW1, New York joined London as the second dominant financial center of the world, and our sample continues to grow, reaching the first peak in the late 1920s. By 1929, after an extended issuance boom (see, for instance, Winkler (1933) or Wynne [1951]), our sample covers more than 80% of all independent sovereigns. Specifically, more than 300 sovereign bonds by more than 50 sovereigns were actively traded in London and New York (as of 1929 there were 63 countries worldwide).

Table 2: The bond pricing database: Countries and bonds included

|<br>|**Total**<br>**sample**<br>|1815-1869|1870-1913|**By era**<br>1914-1945|1946-1980|1989-2016|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Number of countries covered|91|30|45|52|43|67|
|Share of countries covered|70.5%|73.2%|88.2%|85.2%|35.8%|51.9%|
|Pricing observations|266,134|12,070|74,884|78,257|44,679|56,244|
|Number of active bonds|1,552|140|437|507|313|641|
|... issued in British pounds|635|140|430|335|108|0|
|....issued in US dollars|917|0|7|172|204|641|
|Avg. maturity of bonds|27|33|41|40|33|16|
|Average coupon (nominal)|5.8|5.1|4.7|4.9|5.2|7.0|
|Average amount issued<br>(nominal, in m USD)|739|29|35|35|37|1,738|

_Note_ : This table shows the evolution of our sample since 1815. The coverage gap between 1980 and 1990 is explained by the fact that only very few sovereigns had outstanding foreign-currency bonds at the time (see text, Figure 3 and Appendix B4). In the 1970s and 1980s, most international lending took the form of bank loans rather than bonds, so that the bond market shrank considerably. The share of countries is given in percent of all independent countries worldwide. Average bond maturity is measured at issuance.

During the 1930s, the sample shrinks, for two very different reasons. The first reason has to do with data availability, as the Investor’s Monthly Manual ceased to be published. Thus, the most important pricing source for the London market was no longer available. As a replacement, we gathered price quotes from The Economist and the Financial Times after June 1930 and until the 1980s, but these two sources do not cover all bonds trading in London at the time. The second reason is the course of global economic and geopolitical developments. The Great Depression and WW2 were accompanied by widespread capital 18