The paper sets out the legal foundations of an incremental approach to sovereign debt restructuring. As the political momentum that would be necessary to adopt an international treaty governing sovereign debt workouts is currently lacking, the incremental approach explores the possibility of...

This study examines the optimality of sovereign debt restructuring alternatives within a currency union. Its results suggest that upfront debt relief works better than extra lending, as the latter runs the risk of breaking up the union. Based on the model of Gali & Monacelli (2008), I adopt a...

Using a system dynamics framework, this chapter examines the relationship between sovereign debt dynamics and the stability of financial institutions. It also assesses the effectiveness of various policy options aimed at restoring stability after severe macro-financial shocks. The system...

Over the last 40 years, there have been a number of sovereign debt restructurings, most notably in the Latin American countries in the 1980s. Legally, sovereign debt restructuring has been highly problematic in terms of triggering drawn-out litigation, which can have serious adverse effects on...

The contingent liabilities of a sovereign, such as guarantees of the debts of third parties, can normally be kept off the balance sheet of the sovereign guarantor. That is their charm. As the debt to GDP ratios of many developed countries approach red-zone levels, contingent liabilities are...