Financial crises of every variety rocked emerging markets in the second half of the 1990s. Nearly every region experienced currency crashes, banking crises were both numerous and severe, and a few countries, facing extreme duress, defaulted on their sovereign debt. Not surprisingly, then, there...

We study sovereign external debt crises over the past 200 years, with a focus on creditor losses, or "haircuts". Our sample covers 327 sovereign debt restructurings with external private creditors over 205 default spells since 1815. Creditor losses vary widely (from none to 100%), but the...