Why not default? : the political economy of sovereign debt / Jerome Roos.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roos, Jerome E., Author.

Series:

Princeton scholarship online.

Princeton scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Debts, Public--History.

Debts, Public.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 398 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

How creditors came to wield unprecedented power over heavily indebted countries-and the dangers this poses to democracyThe European debt crisis has rekindled long-standing debates about the power of finance and the fraught relationship between capitalism and democracy in a globalized world. Why Not Default? unravels a striking puzzle at the heart of these debates-why, despite frequent crises and the immense costs of repayment, do so many heavily indebted countries continue to service their international debts?In this compelling and incisive book, Jerome Roos provides a sweeping investigation of the political economy of sovereign debt and international crisis management. He takes readers from the rise of public borrowing in the Italian city-states to the gunboat diplomacy of the imperialist era and the wave of sovereign defaults during the Great Depression. He vividly describes the debt crises of developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s and sheds new light on the recent turmoil inside the Eurozone-including the dramatic capitulation of Greece's short-lived anti-austerity government to its European creditors in 2015.Drawing on in-depth case studies of contemporary debt crises in Mexico, Argentina, and Greece, Why Not Default? paints a disconcerting picture of the ascendancy of global finance. This important book shows how the profound transformation of the capitalist world economy over the past four decades has endowed private and official creditors with unprecedented structural power over heavily indebted borrowers, enabling them to impose painful austerity measures and enforce uninterrupted debt service during times of crisis-with devastating social consequences and far-reaching implications for democracy.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

TABLES, FIGURES, AND BOXES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION. The Sovereign Debt Puzzle

PART I. The Theory of Sovereign Debt

PART II. A Brief History of Sovereign Default

PART III. The Lost Decade: Mexico (1982-1989)

PART IV. The Great Default: Argentina (1999-2005)

PART V. The Specter of Solon: Greece (2010-2015)

CONCLUSION. Shaking Off the Burden

APPENDIX. A Word on Methodology

NOTES

REFERENCES

INDEX

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780691184937

0691184933

OCLC:

1079759422