This paper surveys the literature on sovereign debt that deals with the issues of a country’s ability-to-pay, its willingness-to-pay, and the policy responses to the debt crisis of the 1980s. The existence of an ability-to-pay problem suggests a need for debt reduction, but plans for debt...

This paper surveys the literature on sovereign debt that deals with the issues of a country`s ability-to-pay, its willingness-to-pay, and the policy responses to the debt crisis of the 1980s. The existence of an ability-to-pay problem suggests a need for debt reduction, but plans for debt relief...

Intro -- Contents -- I. INTRODUCTION -- II. DESCRIPTION OF THE DATABASE -- III. DOMESTIC VERSUS INTERNATIONAL DEBT -- IV. THE STRUCTURE OF DOMESTIC DEBT -- V. MONETARY INSTABILITY AND DOMESTIC ORIGINAL SIN -- VI. CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES.