A critical look at the risk measurement tool that has repeatedly, and severely, hurt the financial worldThe credit crisis that erupted in 2007 is by no means the only shock to have shaken the financial markets throughout the years. But these market tribulations seem to wreak more havoc than ever...

The €215 billion lent to Greece by her Eurozone siblings are likely among the very cheapest funding ever enjoyed by a sovereign borrower. Not only would the effective net interest rate so far be negative, but actually more so than those faced by essentially all countries lucky enough to have...

The famous Bankers Annuities granted to creditors of Charles II in 1677 contained a covenant that seems to make a clear promise of pro-rata payments to similarly-situated lenders. While the two Latin words are not actually to be found in the evidence I was able to unearth, modern-day observers...

The conventional interpretation of the pari passu clause found in sovereign debt contracts depends on whether the claim is secured or unsecured. We are told that ratable payments pari passus would be reserved for secured debts only (the idea being that each creditor should get an equally...

Experts tell us that the initial rationale for the use of pari passu clauses in sovereign debt documentation was to promise similarly-situated creditors an equal ratable share in the collateral underlying secured debts. This arrangement was deemed superior to the alternative, such as the...

It is commonly argued that no one today seems to know what a pari passu clause is doing in a sovereign debt contract. This is a problem, for pari passu is one of the most prominently displayed covenants in such documentalia. Having an utterly ubiquitous and utterly misunderstood piece of...

A critical look at the risk measurement tool that has repeatedly hurt the financial world The Number That Killed Us finally tells the "greatest story never told": how a mysterious financial risk measurement model has ruled the world for the past two decades and how it has repeatedly, and...

Virtually everything that is held as major conventional wisdom regarding the infamous bailout packages received by Greece is not true. Hard cold data dictates that the truth has been distorted, misreported, and blatantly hidden from view. The nature and requisiteness and effects of the rescue...

One of the most shocking and amazing aspects surrounding the infamous bailout programs that Greece has been immersed in since 2010 surely must be the fact that throughout that period the country has experienced a lackluster and fast declining tax collection rate. That is, even as Greece kept...