In order to provide an estimate of the attainable gains in the liquidity premium, the Commission has conducted a statistical analysis of each issuance of sovereign bonds in the euro area after 1999. The size of the issuance is used as an approximation (as it is the most broadly available indicator even if it might underestimate the potential gain in liquidity premia) of how liquid a bond issuance is, and the coefficient in a regression determines the attainable gains from issuing bonds in higher volumes 8 . A first model is estimated using data on AAA-rated euro-area Member States (labelled "AAA" in.
