Economic Journal, February 2021, with Harris Dellas. PDF. We study the optimal debt and investment decisions of a sovereign with private information. The separating equilibrium is characterised by a cap on the current account. A sovereign repays debt amount due that exceeds default costs in order to signal creditworthiness and smooth consumption. Accepting funding conditional on investment/reforms relaxes borrowing constraints, even when investment does not create collateral, but it...
Read More »“Austerity,” EJ, forthcoming
Economic Journal, forthcoming, with Harris Dellas. PDF. We study the optimal debt and investment decisions of a sovereign with private information. The separating equilibrium is characterized by a cap on the current account. A sovereign repays debt amount due that exceeds default costs in order to signal creditworthiness and smooth consumption. Accepting funding conditional on investment/reforms relaxes borrowing constraints, even when investment does not create collateral, but it...
Read More »Italian Euro Exit: Why it Might Come in some Years and Why it Will Help the Euro Zone and Italy
Update December 2016: Italians rejected the referendum that seeks to increase power of the prime minister and reduce power of the two chambers parliament. Prime minister Renzi has promised to resign. This opens the door for new elections, in which the anti-euro parties Movimento 5 stelle (5 star movement) and Lega Nord (Northern League) may strengthen. ————————————————————————————— Update December 2013: Bear in mind...
Read More »The End of European Austerity?
Since 2009, Europe’s peripheral economies – Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain – have tried to dig their way out of a debt crisis by cutting public spending and raising taxes. This year, however, will be different. Fiscal policy in the euro zone is expected to ease for the first time since 2010. The European economists in Credit Suisse’s Global Markets division say it’s high time fiscal policy loosened in the Eurozone. Had it done so earlier, the region might now be...
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