An analysis of debt-reduction schemes initiated by debtor countries

Ishac Diwan (ishacd1@gmail.com) and Stijn Claessens (stijn.claessens@yale.edu)

No 153, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: In evaluating the benefits of a voluntary debt reduction scheme, look for efficiency gains that allow both debtor and creditor to gain. In particular certain debt reduction operations can: (i) increase the incentives for growth in highly indebted countries; (ii) allocate risk more efficiently between debtor and creditors; and (iii) signal the credibility of a country's willingness to adjust its economy. Market-based debt conversion is more likely to improve the debtor nations welfare when: (i) the opportunity cost of foreign exchange is low; (ii) there is great probability of default with a deadweight loss to the creditor; (iii) private rather than public debt is swapped for equity investments; (iv) the country has no other way of signalling its commitment; and (v) the country has an extreme case of debt overhang.

Keywords: Strategic Debt Management; Economic Theory&Research; Environmental Economics&Policies; Housing Finance; Financial Intermediation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1989-03-31
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSC ... d/PDF/multi0page.pdf (application/pdf)

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:wbk:wbrwps:153

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi (ryazigi@worldbank.org).