Sovereign Debt at the Crossroads Challenges and Proposals for Resolving the Third World Debt Crisis

by Jochnick, Chris; Preston, Fraser A.

• ISBN13: 9780195168013
• ISBN10: 0195168011
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-04-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Recent world events have created a compelling need for new perspectives and realistic solutions to the problem of sovereign debt. The success of the Jubilee 2000 movement in raising public awareness of the devastating effects of debt, the spectacular default and economic implosion of Argentina, and the high-profile write-down of Iraqi debt have helped spur a global debate over sovereign debt. With contributions from leading members of the international debt community, including creditor and debtor representatives, economists, bankers, lawyers, activists, social scientists, and politicians, this book offers a timely guide for understanding and influencing that debate. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Chris Jochnick has worked for fifteen years at the intersection of human rights, development and corporate accountability. He is the founder of two international non-profit groups devoted to economic and social rights, spent five years in a wall street law firm and currently directs Oxfam America's work on corporate social responsibility. He has written and lectured extensively on human rights, sovereign debt and corporations and is an adjunct professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former MacArthur Foundation writing fellow.
Fraser Preston is an international banker and investor, with a decade of experience in emerging markets and a commitment to economic development. He spent four years working in the capital markets of Argentina and Brazil, and is currently a principal of a multi-billion dollar private equity fund. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was a GMIX fellow.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Jeffrey D. Sachs
Contributors	xiii
Introduction	3	(10)
Part I Sovereign Debt: History and Impacts
Creditor Initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s	13	(22)
David Roodman
Playing Games with African Lives: The G7 Debt Relief Strategy and the Politics of Indifference	35	(20)
Fantu Cheru
Sovereign Debt and the Debt Crisis in Emerging Countries: The Experience of the 1990s	55	(28)
Daniel Marx
Jose Echague
Guido Sandleris
Part II Sovereign Debt: Law and Ethics
Ecological Debt---The Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren	83	(26)
Andrew Simms
Defining ``Illegitimate Debt'': When Creditors Should Be Liable for Improper Loans	109	(23)
Joseph Hanlon
The Legal Case for Debt Repudiation	132	(26)
Chris Jochnick
Ethics, Market and Government Failure, and Globalization: Perspectives on Debt and Finance	158	(16)
J. E. Stiglitz
Helping the Poor to Help Themselves: Debt Relief or Aid?	174	(23)
Serkan Arslanalp
Peter Blair Henry
Part III Sovereign Debt: Prospects and Proposals
Using International Finance to Further Conservation: The First 15 Years of Debt-for-Nature Swaps	197	(18)
William K. Reilly
Odious Debt	215	(11)
Seema Jayachandran
Michael Kremer
Dealing Comprehensively, and Justly, with Sovereign Debt	226	(20)
Jack Boorman
The IMF's SDRM---Simply Disastrous Rescheduling Management?	246	(21)
Kunibert Raffer
Dealing with Sovereign Debt: Trends and Implications	267	(30)
Arturo C. Porzecanski
The Jubliee 2000 Campaign: A Brief Overview	297	(22)
Ann Pettifor
Index	319