Dropping the debt for the new millennium: is it such a good idea?

Tim Allen and Diana Weinhold
Additional contact information
Tim Allen: Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics, London, UK, Postal: Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics, London, UK

Journal of International Development, 2000, vol. 12, issue 6, 857-875

Abstract: This paper examines the economic analyses and popular rhetoric surrounding the debt relief initiatives of Jubilee 2000 www.jubilee2000uk.org and the World Bank www.worldbank.org . It is pointed out that simplistic calls to 'drop the debt' may be counter-productive. There is no point in just demonizing debt. It has to be asked if debt cancellation is a particularly effective use of scarce aid resources. A serious look at historical evidence is required. In particular we consider the views of William Easterly on the adverse effects of continuing waves of debt relief on the governments of impoverished countries. We provide a brief empirical analysis in a panel data set using fixed effects estimation. Although our results are not consistent with Easterly's, many of the points that he and others have raised cannot simply be set aside. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Date: 2000
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:12:y:2000:i:6:p:857-875

DOI: 10.1002/1099-1328(200008)12:6<857::AID-JID712>3.0.CO;2-6

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Development is currently edited by Paul Mosley and Hazel Johnson

More articles in Journal of International Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().