Sovereign Debt

Necessity in the Time of COVID-19

04/21/20

Mark Weidemaier and Mitu Gulati

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Now That Everyone Is on the Standstill Bandwagon ... Where to? Part I

04/20/20

A sovereign debt standstill might not cure COVID-19, but it sure seems like the one thing we can all agree on.

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What Can One Do With 50% plus One?

04/16/20

Today is the final day of my Duke-NYU sovereign debt seminar with Steve Choi and Lee Buchheit, and that makes me sad.  The students have delivered in spades this term, notwithstanding the disruptions to their lives as a result of corona drama. I can't begin to express how proud I am.  And teaching with Steve and Lee (with cameos by Ugo Panizza, Mark Weidemaier, Theresa Arnold, Anna Gelpern, Jeromin Zettelmeyer, Chanda De Long, Yannis Manuelides, Anna Szymanski, Felix Salmon, Jon Zonis, Robin Wigglesworth, and Colby Smith) has been special.

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Lebanon’s Vexing Modification Clause

04/15/20

Mark Weidemaier and Mitu Gulati

We posted earlier about Lebanon’s befuddling fiscal agency agreement. Understanding what exactly the modification provision in this contract means to say is key because Lebanon is in the process of trying to restructure its obligations to bondholders. 

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What to do When Your Contract is a Dog's Breakfast

04/13/20

Tomorrow is the first of the two days when the students in my international debt class (with Steve Choi and Lee Buchheit) present their final papers to a group of outside experts.  The students have come up with some intriguing ideas for the restructurings of Lebanese and Argentine debt, a couple of which I flag below.

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Lebanon’s Unusual Pari Passu Clause and the Question of How to Construct Credible Priority

04/07/20

A few weeks ago, Mark Weidemaier and I blogged about Lebanon’s unusual pari passu clause and Collective Action Clauses.

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Boer Bonds and the Doctrine of War Debts

03/26/20

Concentrating on just about anything during these days of the coronavirus, let alone academic writing, has been a trifle difficult these.  A splendid new paper on Boer Bonds by Kim Oosterlinck and Marie Van Gansbeke (here) did, however, get me focused (for a bit).  And that’s in part because their paper has potentially turned upside down what I thought was an established part of customary international law.  That is, the law of

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ECB + CACs: Fig Leaf Aflutter

03/25/20

Further to Mitu's post about the European Central Bank's bond-buying bellyache, let us linger on the rationale for the 33.33% limit on the central bank's holdings of a euro area sovereign bond series. 

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Do CACs Constrain the ECB From Buying Even More Bonds?

03/24/20

Answer: No

(This post borrows heavily from the ideas of my co author, Ugo Panizza, of the international economics department of the Graduate Institute in Geneva).

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From the Vault: Lee Buchheit on "How to Restructure Greek Debt" Videos

03/22/20

My sovereign debt class is discussing the March 2012 Greek debt restructuring on Tuesday afternoon.  The magic here was in significant part the product of Lee Buchheit's genius. That said, I do not wish to discount the contributions of his star studded team, which had debt gurus like Andrew Shutter and Andres de la Cruz who played invaluable roles.  

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