While focusing on the protection of distressed sovereigns, the current debate intended to reform the International Financial Architecture has hardly addressed the protection of creditors rights that varies among laws. I suspect however that this constitutes an essential determinant of the success of suggested solutions, especially under the contractual approach. Based on a sample of bonds issued by developing countries states in the period, January 1987 to December 1997, I find that, for given contract characteristics (e.g. listing markets and currency), the governing law is selected according to its ability to enforce repayment. However, although the New York law seems looser and incur larger enforcement costs than the England&Wales law, the former permits equivalent yearly credit amounts. I interpret this as a consequence of the existence of a larger set of valuable assets (e.g. trade) in the US that constitute implicit securities. My findings yield important implications for the reforms. In particular, provided that there exists a seemingly equivalent enforcement credibility between England and New York laws, the prompt implementation of the contractual approach solution should constitute a valuable first step toward efficient sovereign debt markets.
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Paper provided by Center for Financial Studies in its series CFS Working Paper Series with number
2003/34.
Length: 28 pages Date of creation: 03 Feb 2003 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:cfs:cfswop:wp200334
Note: For valuable discussions and/or comments, I am especially indebted to Nadja Calabrò, James Dow, Jan Pieter Krahnen, and Andrew Yianni. For assistance with the data, I am very thankful to Soheil Safadeh. This research received the support from grants awarded by the European Commission Research and Training Network Understanding Financial Architecture: Legal and Political Frameworks and Economic Efficiency. All errors are my own responsibility. Contact details of provider: Postal: House of Finance, Gr�neburgplatz 1, HPF H5, D-60323 Frankfurt am Main Phone: +49 (0)69 798-30050 Fax: +49 (0)69 798-30077 Email: Web page: http://www.ifk-cfs.de/ More information through EDIRC
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Find related papers by JEL classification: F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation K33 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - International Law
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