In the wake of the recent housing and financial crisis, many have argued that consumers are defaulting on their mortgage for strategic reasons, either because they are "underwater" or to preserve access to credit from other types of debt products, in order to maintain their consumption of other...

This chapter, from the forthcoming Research Handbook on the Economics of Corporate Law (Claire Hill & Brett McDonnell, eds.), provides an introduction to the law and economic theory relating to creditors and debt governance. The chapter begins with a look at the traditional role of debt,...

An assignment of a debt transfers the rights in the debt from the creditor (assignor) to a third party (assignee). The assignee becomes the creditor of the (assigned) debt. In Bennett v White [1910] 2 KB 643 at 646-647 the court explained that an assigned debt is for all purposes in the same...

This paper studies the effects of government capital accumulation on sovereign debt default risk and debt restructuring renegotiation outcomes when government has limited ability to extract revenues from households. We develop a quantitative dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model of...

In late 2008, Ecuador launched a successful effort to restructure its external debt, the circumstances of which are unique in the recent history of sovereign debt restructurings. The country had a rocky history of debt repayment, but after restructurings in 1995 and 2000, it had arguably...

This paper studies the relationship between sovereign debt default and annual GDP growth taking into account the depth of a debt restructuring and distinguishing between private and official deals, as well as between debt flow and stock reduction. Analyzing 520 restructuring episodes, over the...

This paper argues that sovereign debt restructurings as agreed between defaulting states and their multilateral, bilateral, or private creditors constitute exercises of international public authority. Their authoritative character results from their effects on the citizens of the defaulting...