The course will consider sovereign debt restructurings from a number of perspectives, including an examination of the financial, legal, and policy/political dimensions of sovereign debt crises and related sovereign debt restructurings. The course will review a number of case studies, including the Latin American/LDC debt crisis of the 1980s, the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, the Argentine default and restructuring of the early 2000s, and culminating in an examination of the ongoing Eurozone sovereign debt crisis. Drawing on these cases studies, the course will consider the range of techniques and approaches that have been used to restructure sovereign debt as well as examine how those sovereign debt restructuring techniques and approaches have evolved over time. The course will also consider some of the broader policy issues associated with sovereign debt issues, including matters related to the existing international financial architecture (e.g.,IMF, Paris Club, etc.) and proposals for reforming the so-called sovereign debt restructuring machinery, and the course will also examine the concept of “odious debt” and other important topics such as contagion, moral hazard and burden-sharing/”bail-ins.”
