Journal Article

The politics of sovereign defaults


Abstract: In this article, we study the interplay between political factors and default decisions. First, we survey two branches of theoretical studies. One shows that governments may be willing to repay their debt because it is in the best interest of local agents with political power. The other one discusses how political turnover affects sovereign default risk. Second, we describe a large body of empirical studies that find evidence of the influence of political stability and other characteristics of a political system on default risk. Finally, we examine the role of political factors in five recent default episodes.

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Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Part of Series: Economic Quarterly

Publication Date: 2010

Volume: 96

Issue: 3Q

Pages: 291-317