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Full-Text Articles in International Economics
Hard, Soft, And Embedded: Implementing Principles On Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending And Borrowing, Anna Gelpern
Hard, Soft, And Embedded: Implementing Principles On Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending And Borrowing, Anna Gelpern
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
This paper, prepared for UNCTAD’s initiative on responsible sovereign lending and borrowing, considers concrete strategies for implementing the Principles. It draws on studies in soft law and new governance, and on the recent experience in promoting best practices in international finance, including project finance, extraction revenue management, foreign aid, sovereign investment, and sovereign borrowing in the capital markets. It recommends maintaining the current non-binding character of the Principles, while embedding implementation in multi-stakeholder arrangements for ongoing disclosure, assessment, interpretation, and adaptation. This strategy has the best chance of changing behavior in sovereign lending and borrowing by creating constituencies for implementation …
Domestic Bonds, Credit Derivatives, And The Next Transformation Of Sovereign Debt, Anna Gelpern
Domestic Bonds, Credit Derivatives, And The Next Transformation Of Sovereign Debt, Anna Gelpern
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Not long ago, financial markets in most poor and middle-income countries were shallow to nonexistent, and closed to foreigners. Governments often had to rely on risky borrowing abroad; the private sector had even fewer options. But between 1995 and 2005, domestic debt in the emerging markets grew from $1 trillion to $4 trillion. In Mexico, domestic debt went from just over 20% of the total government debt stock in 1995 to nearly 80% in 2007. Foreign and local investors are buying. Over the same period, derivative contracts to transfer emerging market credit risk surpassed the market capitalization of the benchmark …
Odious, Not Debt, Anna Gelpern
Odious, Not Debt, Anna Gelpern
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
This article argues that the doctrine of Odious Debt, which has enjoyed a revival since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, frames the problem of odious debt in a way that excludes most of the problematic obligations incurred by twentieth-century despots. Advocacy and academic literature traditionally describe the odious debt problem as one of government contracts with private creditors. Most theories of sovereign debt key off the same relationship. But in the latest crop of cases, including Iraq, Liberia, and Nigeria, private creditors represent a small fraction of the old regime's debts. Most of the creditors are other governments …
After Argentina, Anna Gelpern
After Argentina, Anna Gelpern
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
Argentina recently completed the largest sovereign bond restructuring in history. As soon as the government announced the results of its $100 billion tender in March 2005, editorial pages worldwide heralded a new era for sovereign debt, for the emerging markets and, occasionally, for international finance. Their views on Argentina's lessons were as disparate as they were definite. Some said the exchange would close the markets to middle-income countries. To others, it reaffirmed the markets' resilience. Some claimed it proved the need for statutory sovereign bankruptcy. Others said it clearly discredited the idea. Most spoke too soon. The deal took months …
Beyond Balancing The Interests Of Creditors And Developing States, Anna Gelpern
Beyond Balancing The Interests Of Creditors And Developing States, Anna Gelpern
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
The traditional view of sovereign debt as a relationship between a developing country government and and its foreign private creditors is increasingly out of date. Financial institutions and individuals inside the borrowing countries are are becoming more and more important as creditors to their governments. At the same time, as countries remove restrictions on cross-border capital flows, foreign creditors are participating more actively in domestic law, local-currency debt markets. These developments imply fundamental changes in lending decisions and, where the loan goes bad, in the sovereign debt workout process.