Too Little, Too Late: The Quest to Resolve Sovereign Debt Crises

Martin Guzman · José Antonio Ocampo · Joseph E. Stiglitz

May 2016 · Columbia University Press

About this ebook

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.

About the author

Martin Guzman is a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University and an associate professor at the University of Buenos Aires. He is a cochair of the Columbia IPD Taskforce on Debt Restructuring and Sovereign Bankruptcy and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

José Antonio Ocampo is a professor at Columbia University and chair of the United Nations Economic and Social Council's Committee for Development Policy. With Codrina Rada and Lance Taylor, he is the author of Growth and Policy in Developing Countries: A Structuralist Approach (Columbia, 2009), and with José Antonio Alonso, Development Cooperation in Times of Crisis (Columbia, 2012).

Joseph E. Stiglitz is University Professor at Columbia University. A recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001), he is also the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute and the cochair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD. His books include Creating a Learning Society: A New Approach to Growth, Development, and Social Progress (2014) and Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy: An Agenda for Growth and Shared Prosperity (2015).