Too Little, Too Late

Too Little, Too Late

The Quest to Resolve Sovereign Debt Crises

The current approach to resolving sovereign debt crises does not work: sovereign debt restructurings come too late and address too little. Though unresolved debt crises impose enormous costs on societies, many recent restructurings have not been deep enough to provide the conditions for economic recovery (as illustrated by the Greek debt restructuring of 2012). And if the debtor decides not to accept the terms demanded by the creditors, finalizing a restructuring can be slowed by legal challenges (as illustrated by the recent case of Argentina, deemed as "the trial of the century").

A fresh start for distressed debtors is a basic principle of a well-functioning market economy, yet there is no international bankruptcy framework for sovereign debts. While this problem is not new, the United Nations and the global community are now willing to do something about it. Providing guidance for those who intend to take up reform, this book assesses the relative merits of various debt-restructuring proposals, especially in relation to the main deficiencies of the current nonsystem. With contributions by leading academics and practitioners, Too Little, Too Late reflects the overwhelming consensus among specialists on the need to find workable solutions.
  • Table of Contents
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction, by Martin Guzman, José Antonio Ocampo, and Joseph E. Stiglitz
  • Part I: General Issues of Sovereign Debt Restructuring
  • 1. Creating a Framework for Sovereign Debt Restructuring that Works, by Martin Guzman, José Antonio Ocampo, and Joseph E. Stiglitz
  • 2. Sovereign Debt of Developing Countries: Overview of Trends and Policy Perspectives, by Marilou Uy and Shichao Zhou
  • 3. Private Creditor Power and the Politics of Sovereign Debt Governance, by Skylar Brooks and Domenico Lombardi
  • Part II: Two Case Studies: Argentina and Greece
  • 4. From the Pari Passu Discussion to the Illegality of Making Payments, by Sergio Chodos
  • 5. Greek Debt Denial: A Modest Debt Restructuring Proposal and Why It Was Ignored, by Yanis Varoufakis
  • Part III: Improvements to the Contractual Approach
  • 6. Count the Limbs: Designing Robust Aggregation Clauses in Sovereign Bonds, by Anna Gelpern, Ben Heller, and Brad Setser
  • 7. Contractual and Voluntary Approaches to Sovereign Debt Restructuring: There Is Still More to Do, by Richard Gitlin and Brett House
  • 8. Sovereign Debt Restructuring: A Coasean Perspective, by James A. Haley
  • 9. Creditor Committees in Sovereign Debt Restructurings: Understanding the Benefits and Addressing Concerns, by Timothy B. DeSieno
  • Part IV: Proposals for a Multinational Framework for Sovereign Debt Restructuring: Principles, Elements, and Institutionalization
  • 10. A Brief History of Sovereign Debt Resolution and a Proposal for a Multilateral Instrument, by José Antonio Ocampo
  • 11. Toward a Multilateral Framework for Recovery from Sovereign Insolvency, by Barry Herman
  • 12. Making a Legal Framework for Sovereign DebtRestructuring Operational, by Jürgen Kaiser
  • 13. Perspectives on a Sovereign Debt Restructuring Framework: Less Is More, by Richard A. Conn Jr.
  • 14. Toward a Framework for Sovereign Debt Restructuring: What Can Public International Law Contribute?, by Robert Howse
  • 15. Debts, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law: Advocating a Fair and Efficient Sovereign Insolvency Model, by Kunibert Raffer
  • Contributors
  • Index

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