The French government currently honors a very unusual debt contract: an annuity that was issued in 1738 and currently yields 1.20 Euro per year. I tell the story of this unique debt, which serves as an anecdotal but symbolic summary of French public finances since the 18th century. -- life...

Legal rules play a powerful but understudied role in security design. This article presents two new theoretical results about the design of debt contracts. The results derive from the premise that firms must avoid legal insolvency when issuing new debt because insolvency at issuance would...

The French government currently honors a very unusual debt contract: an annuity that was issued in 1738 and currently yields €1.20 per year. I tell the story of this unique debt, which serves as an anecdotal but symbolic summary of French public finances since the 18th century