Over the past few years there has been an active debate among policy-makers on appropriate mechanisms for restructuring sovereign debt, particularly international bonds. This paper develops a simple theoretical model to analyse the merits of these proposals. The analysis suggests that collective...

The World Bank is a prestigious and large international financial institution. Since its foundation it has widened the scope and the size of its activities. One interpretation of what the World Bank is doing is the provision of public goods. If we take this interpretation seriously the...

This paper provides an overview of the ongoing debate on the international Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism (SDRM) architecture by highlighting two key aspects, the contractual and the statutory approach, while also alluding to alternatives that have been set forth, such as arbitration,...

I analyse the role of multilateral financial institutions in a world of global capital markets assuming that they have an informational advantage over private lenders in the market for sovereign debt. I show that the adverse selection problem in this market may be solved through certification if...

This paper argues that the limited ability to help developing countries in a crisis should shift the focus to policies helping in reducing the ex ante probability of crises. Indirectly, such policies would also alleviate the depths of realized crises. Two specific ideas are explored:...

The 2017 Spring Meetings coincided with the surprise calling of snap general elections in the UK and military tensions in the Yellow Sea. Our postwar social contract has to cope with unprecedented shocks: Britain's thorny withdrawal from the EU, worsening Migrant Crisis, rise in populist...

This second of a series of seven papers co-authored by M. Nicolas J. Firzli and David Weeks looks at the notions of private markets – PE, VC, private debt and infrastructure – and the "quest for yields" in a low interest rates environment, which where discussed at two recent global...

This paper co-authored by M. Nicolas J. Firzli and David Weeks looks at the notions of long-term asset allocation and the ‘quest for yields’ from the perspective of AUS, European and North American pension investors and board members (trustees), which where discussed at two recent global...

The rapid rise of private asset markets has been one of the most remarkable phenomena in the institutional investment space since the start of the Great Recession (2008 – 2014). This trend is contributing to a pro-found transformation of the financial ecosystem as a whole. This unprecedented...

The co-authors of this article, M. Nicolas J. Firzli, the Hon. Nick Sherry and Dr. Guan Seng Khoo, are amongst the original coiners of terms such as “infrastructure as a new asset class” , the “SDG driven world economy”, and “building back better”. They were asked to comment on the...