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Risk Sharing with the Monarch: Contingent Debt and Excusable Defaults in the Age of Philip II, 1556-1598

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  • Drelichman, Mauricio
  • Voth, Hans-Joachim

Abstract

Contingent sovereign debt can create important welfare gains. Nonetheless, there is almost no issuance today. Using hand-collected archival data, we examine the first known case of large-scale use of state-contingent sovereign debt in history. Philip II of Spain entered into hundreds of contracts whose value and due date depended on verifiable, exogenous events such as the arrival of silver fleets. We show that this allowed for effective risk-sharing between the king and his bankers. The data also strongly suggest that the defaults that occurred were excusable – they were simply contingencies over which Crown and bankers had not contracted previously.

Suggested Citation

  • Drelichman, Mauricio & Voth, Hans-Joachim, 2011. "Risk Sharing with the Monarch: Contingent Debt and Excusable Defaults in the Age of Philip II, 1556-1598," Economics working papers mauricio_drelichman-2011-, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 06 Jun 2012.
    • Handle: RePEc:ubc:bricol:mauricio_drelichman-2011-14
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    Cited by:

    1. Sebastian Edwards & Francis A. Longstaff & Alvaro Garcia Marin, 2015. "The U.S. Debt Restructuring of 1933: Consequences and Lessons," NBER Working Papers 21694, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Irigoin, A, 2012. "Bounded Leviathan: or why North & Weingast are only right on the right half," MPRA Paper 39722, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Irigoin, Alejandra & Grafe, Regina, 2012. "Bounded Leviathan: or why North and Weingast are only right on the right half," Economic History Working Papers 44492, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    4. Mauricio Drelichman & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2016. "Duplication without constraints: Álvarez-Nogal and Chamley's analysis of debt policy under Philip II," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(3), pages 999-1006, August.
    5. Alberto Feenstra, 2015. "Circumventing credible commitment: GroningenÕs default and the Dutch RepublicÕs federal escape route, 1666-1761," Working Papers 0075, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    6. Rohan Pitchford & Mark L. J. Wright, 2013. "On the contribution of game theory to the study of sovereign debt and default," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 29(4), pages 649-667, WINTER.

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    JEL classification:

    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems
    • N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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