Sovereign debt crises involve restructurings characterized by a mix of face value haircuts and maturity extensions. The prevalence extensions has been hard to reconcile with economic theory. We develop model endogenous restructuring that captures key facts sovereign episodes. While dilution pushes for negative extensions, three factors are important in overcoming the effects generating upon res...

Important research has already been made on the potentially destabilizing fiscal impact of contingent liabilities. Additional insights can be gained by working within a broader conceptual framework based on the government’s balance sheet. This approach would place contingent liabilities alongside other sovereign exposures arising from both assets and liabilities. A number of sovereigns using as...

An important source of inefficiency in long-term debt contracts is the debt dilution problem, wherein a country or firm ignores the adverse impact of new borrowing on the market value of outstanding debt and, therefore, borrows too much and defaults too frequently. A commonly proposed remedy to the debt dilution problem is seniority of debt, wherein creditors who lent first are given priority i...

This Article reviews the history of sovereign debt restructuring operations with private sector creditors with a view toward diagnosing the factors that lead to inferior outcomes. The Article also attempts to forecast potential problems that may arise in sovereign debt restructuring negotiations in the future and reviews possible modifications of existing institutions. The future potential prob...

Since the 1980s, two severe global waves of sovereign defaults have occurred in less developed countries (LDCs): the LDC defaults in the 1980s and the LDC defaults at the turn of the 21st century. To date, the topic is contemporary, while the forecasting and monitoring results of debt crises are still at a preliminary stage. This chapter explores whether the application of the Self-Organizing M...

A credit default swap (CDS) contract provides insurance against default. After a country defaults, the country and its lenders usually negotiate over the share of the defaulted debt to be repaid. This paper incorporates CDS contracts into a sovereign default model and demonstrates that the existence of a CDS market results in lower default probability, higher debt levels, and lower nancing cost...

Sovereign risk premia reflect investors’ beliefs for the equilibrium and off -equilibrium actions of international agents. This paper investigates the international dimension of self-fulfilling sovereign debt crises and characterizes self-interested bailouts (solidarity) and contagion. A credible bailout guarantee by a partner country or international agency can lower a debtor country’s borrowi...

The paper examines the main issues involved in translating domestic bankruptcy procedures to the sovereign context. It considers some of the principles by which domestic bankruptcy procedures operate, and the extent to which they apply to international lending. Two recent proposals are considered in more detail, that of Krueger (A New Approach to Sovereign Debt Restructuring) and that of Pettif...