"Private debt flows to developing countries surged to record levels over the period 2003-07. A few low-income countries have gained access to the international bond market but the bulk of the flows have continued to go to just a few large middle-income countries. Most low-income countries still...

"Previous research has documented weak, and sometimes conflicting, effects of legal quality on measures of firm debt. Using WorldScope data for 1,689 firms, as well as more detailed proprietary data for 315 firms across nine East Asian countries, the authors find that access to foreign financing...

"Broner, Lorenzoni, and Schmukler argue that emerging economies borrow short term due to the high risk premium charged by international capital markets on long-term debt. They first present a model where the debt maturity structure is the outcome of a risk-sharing problem between the government...

Even though multilateral loans may have behaved countercyclically with respect to private flows to Developing countries in the short term, these flows tended to complement private flows in the medium term by signaling, and often fostering, a better investment environment in the borrowing country

IBRD and IDA lending commitments appear to reflect variations in borrowing countries' need for external financing to meet debt service commitments. This is true during financial crises and more tranquil times, suggesting that aid may be more fungible than previously believed

Market placements by future receivables can allow public and private sector entities in a developing country to escape the sovereign credit ceiling and raise lower-cost financing from international capital markets. If planned and executied ahead of time, such transactions can sustain external...

"The authors revisit the debt overhang question. They first use nonparametric techniques to isolate a panel of countries on the downward sloping section of a debt Laffer Curve. In particular, overhang countries are ones where a threshold level of debt is reached in sample, beyond which (initial)...