We build a dynamic model of international borrowing and default that can rationalize the dynamics of spread and the maturity composition of debt in the data. The spread curve reflects the dynamics of the endogenous probability of default that is persistent yet mean reverting because of the...

In this paper, we use data from developing countries to argue that sovereign defaults are often caused by fiscal pressures generated by large-scale domestic defaults. We argue that these systemic domestic defaults are caused by shocks best interpreted as being non-fundamental. We construct a...

During the period 1990-93, Finland experienced the deepest economic downturn in an industrialized country since the 1930s. We argue that the collapse of the Finnish trade with the Soviet Union in and of itself resulted in a large contraction of the economy and a costly restructuring of the...