IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/imfstp/v36y1989i3p580-611.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Voluntary Debt Reduction: Incentives and Welfare

Author

Listed:
  • Elhanan Helpman

    (International Monetary Fund)

Abstract

In an economy with a debt overhang, investment depends on expected tax rates, but expected tax rates depend on the debt's face value. Therefore investment depends on the face value of debt. This relationship may lead to a positive or negative association between debt and investment. The paper explores the desirability of debt reduction. First, it characterizes circumstances in which debt reduction is desirable from the collective point of view of the creditors. Second, it formulates the forgiveness decision as a noncooperative game among creditors and explores the scope for debt reduction as an outcome of this game.

Suggested Citation

  • Elhanan Helpman, 1989. "Voluntary Debt Reduction: Incentives and Welfare," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 36(3), pages 580-611, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:imfstp:v:36:y:1989:i:3:p:580-611
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3867048?origin=pubexport
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eaton, Jonathan, 1987. "Public Debt Guarantees and Private Capital Flight," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 1(3), pages 377-395, May.
    2. Paul R. Krugman, 1988. "Market-Based Debt-Reduction Schemes," NBER Working Papers 2587, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Calvo, Guillermo A, 1988. "Servicing the Public Debt: The Role of Expectations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(4), pages 647-661, September.
    4. Helpman, Elhanan, 1989. "The Simple Analytics of Debt-Equity Swaps," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(3), pages 440-451, June.
    5. Claessens, Stijn, 1990. "The debt laffer curve: Some estimates," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(12), pages 1671-1677, December.
    6. W. Max Corden, 1988. "An International Debt Facility?," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 35(3), pages 401-421, September.
    7. Froot, Kenneth A, 1989. "Buybacks, Exit Bonds, and the Optimality of Debt and Liquidity Relief," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 30(1), pages 49-70, February.
    8. Michael P. Dooley, 1988. "Buy-Backs and Market Valuation of External Debt," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 35(2), pages 215-229, June.
    9. International Monetary Fund, 1988. "Simple Analytics: Debt-Equity Swaps and Debt forgiveness," IMF Working Papers 1988/030, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Agenor, Pierre-Richard & Aizenman, Joshua, 1999. "Financial sector inefficiencies and coordination failures : implications for crisis management," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2185, The World Bank.
    2. Fernandez-Ruiz, Jorge, 1996. "Debt and incentives in a dynamic context," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1-2), pages 139-151, August.
    3. Francesca Caselli & Matilde Faralli & Paolo Manasse & Ugo Panizza, 2021. "On the Benefits of Repaying," IHEID Working Papers 18-2021, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    4. Tengstam, Sven, 2006. "Debt relief and adjustment effort in a multi-period model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 127-130, April.
    5. Maier, Rolf, 2005. "External Debt and Pro-Poor Growth," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Kiel 2005 23, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    6. AGENOR Pierre-Richard & IZQUIERDO Alejandro & FOFACK Hippolyte, 2010. "IMMPA: A Quantitative Macroeconomic Framework for the Analysis of Poverty Reduction Strategies," EcoMod2003 330700003, EcoMod.
    7. Fafchamps, Marcel, 1996. "Sovereign debt, structural adjustment, and conditionality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 313-335, August.
    8. Andrew M. Warner, 1992. "Did the Debt Crisis Cause the Investment Crisis?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1161-1186.
    9. Hayri, Aydin, 2000. "Debt relief," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 137-152, October.
    10. Andrew M. Warner, 1991. "Did the debt crisis or the oil price decline cause Mexico's investment collapse?," International Finance Discussion Papers 416, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    11. Bowe, M. & Dean, J.W., 1997. "Has the Market Solved the Sovereign-Debt Crisis?," Princeton Studies in International Economics 83, International Economics Section, Departement of Economics Princeton University,.
    12. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4089 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Strand, Jon, 1995. "Lending terms, debt concessions, and developing countries' resource extraction," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 99-117, August.
    14. Long, Ngo Van, 1989. "The political economy of the international debt crisis," Kiel Working Papers 384, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Jeremy Bulow & Kenneth Rogoff, 1991. "Sovereign Debt Repurchases: No Cure for Overhang," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1219-1235.
    16. Rolf Maier, 2005. "External Debt and Pro-Poor Growth," Macroeconomics 0504031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Oladi, Reza, 2003. "International involuntary lending and contingent default threat," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 237-245.
    18. Stephan Koren, 1992. "Debt relief for Eastern Europe — Its costs and the distribution of proceeds: Some preliminary results," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 128(4), pages 639-661, December.
    19. Jean-Claude Berthélemy, 2001. "HIPC Debt Relief and Policy Reform Incentives," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2001-105, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Michael P. Dooley, 1994. "A Retrospective on the Debt Crisis," NBER Working Papers 4963, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Franke, Günter, 1990. "Avenues for the reduction of LDC-debt: An institutional analysis," Discussion Papers, Series II 100, University of Konstanz, Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 178 "Internationalization of the Economy".
    22. Johansson, Pernilla, 2010. "Debt Relief, Investment and Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 1204-1216, September.
    23. Agenor, Pierre-Richard & Izquierdo, Alejandro & Fofack, Hippolyte, 2003. "The integrated macroeconomic model for poverty analysis : a quantitative macroeconomic framework for the analysis of poverty reduction strategies," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3092, The World Bank.
    24. Michael Bowe & James W. Dean, 1997. "Debt-equity swaps and the enforcement of sovereign loan contracts," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(1), pages 59-83.
    25. Joshua Aizenman & Eduardo R. Borensztein, 1989. "Strategic Investment in a Debt Bargaining Framework," NBER Working Papers 3019, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fernando Broner & Alberto Martin & Jaume Ventura, 2010. "Sovereign Risk and Secondary Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(4), pages 1523-1555, September.
    2. Cabral, Celia C., 1996. "Evaluating debt repurchases What are the alternatives to investment?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-4), pages 477-494, May.
    3. Bowe, M. & Dean, J.W., 1997. "Has the Market Solved the Sovereign-Debt Crisis?," Princeton Studies in International Economics 83, International Economics Section, Departement of Economics Princeton University,.
    4. Oladi, Reza, 2003. "International involuntary lending and contingent default threat," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 237-245.
    5. Goldberg, Linda & Spiegel, Mark M., 1992. "Debt write-downs and debt--equity swaps in a two-sector model," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3-4), pages 267-283, November.
    6. Stephan Koren, 1992. "Debt relief for Eastern Europe — Its costs and the distribution of proceeds: Some preliminary results," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 128(4), pages 639-661, December.
    7. Kaushik Basu, 1989. "The International Debt Problem: Could Someone Please Explain It to Me?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-1989-078, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Mella-Barral, Pierre, 1996. "The dynamics of default and debt reorganization," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 119173, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Joshua Aizenman & Michael Gavin & Ricardo Hausmann, 2001. "Optimal tax and debt policy with endogenously imperfect creditworthiness," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 367-395.
    10. Joshua Aizenman & Ricardo Hausmann, 1994. "Why is Inflation Skewed? A Debt and Volatility Story," NBER Working Papers 4837, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Hatchondo, Juan Carlos & Martinez, Leonardo & Sosa Padilla, César, 2014. "Voluntary sovereign debt exchanges," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 32-50.
    12. Goopu, Sudarshan, 1996. "The analysis of emerging policy issues in development finance," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1589, The World Bank.
    13. Cohen, Daniel & Verdier, Thierry, 1995. "'Secret' buy-backs of LDC debt," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 317-334, November.
    14. Jeremy Bulow & Kenneth Rogoff, 1991. "Sovereign Debt Repurchases: No Cure for Overhang," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1219-1235.
    15. Fornaro, Luca & Grosse Steffen, Christoph, 2024. "Fragmented Monetary Unions," CEPR Discussion Papers 19171, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Aasim Mairaj Husain, 1988. "Forgiveness, Buybacks, and Exit Bonds: An Analysis of Alternate Debt Relief Strategiest," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 27(4), pages 819-828.
    17. Arellano, Cristina & Kocherlakota, Narayana, 2014. "Internal debt crises and sovereign defaults," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(S), pages 68-80.
    18. berlage, Lodewijk & cassimon, Danny & dreze, Jacques & Reding, Paul, 2003. "Prospective Aid and Indebtedness Relief: A Proposal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(10), pages 1635-1654, October.
    19. Silvia Marchesi, 2006. "Buybacks of domestic debt in public debt management," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(5), pages 379-400.
    20. Schioppa, Claudio A. & Papadia, Andrea, 2015. "Foreign Debt and Secondary Markets: The Case of Interwar Germany," MPRA Paper 102863, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2016.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:imfstp:v:36:y:1989:i:3:p:580-611. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.