Sovereign Debt Defaults and Debt Restructurings, 1930-1960: Private Creditors and Official Intervention

Diplôme Thèse Sovereign Debt Defaults and Debt Restructurings, 1930-1960: Private Creditors and Official Intervention eng 2022-05-31 2022-07-04 author De La Villa Aleman Laura 0000-0002-6038-8268 854943 director Flores Zendejas Juan 0000-0003-2800-7258 685481 264 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:162135 urn:nbn:ch:unige-1621356 SdS 196 This dissertation analyses the resolution of sovereign debt defaults from the outbreak of the international debt crisis in the early 1930s to its final settlement well after WWII. The central thesis of this dissertation is that the economic and political consequences of the Depression fundamentally modified available sovereign debt resolution mechanisms and opened the door to the centrality of debt relief in the resolution of interwar debt defaults. This dissertation shows that in the 1930s, secondary markets, rather than negotiations between bondholders' committees and debtors, were at centre stage in debt management strategies in the 1930s.From the late-1930s onwards, a more interventionist stance on foreign affairs by the US government crystalised in a framework linking the construction of commercial, financial, and strategic alliances with the permanent settlement of defaults and the provision of debt relief. Beyond the temporary interruption of foreign debt service under debt moratoria during the Great Depression, this dissertation emphasises the importance of debt deleveraging and concessionary settlements as key mechanisms for relieving sovereign governments from the burden of foreign debts accumulated during the 1920s.By emphasizing that debt relief is one of the keystones of the construction of post-WWII international economic and political order and emphasising the role that creditors' governments had in this outcome, this dissertation contributes to enriching our understanding of the 20<sup>th</sup> century's arduous experience with defaults and restructurings. International finance Economic history International political economy Sovereign debt Crisis resolution Dewey 330.9 193 Institut d'histoire économique Paul Bairoch TE false b8ba4cfb-5ade-4b71-b237-c971f403785a Thesis Restricted De la Villa_Manuscript_unige.pdf 3680719 application/pdf Private 2025-06-01 f230de9c13bda45242845808dc4cfc11caa253e31850ccb988b423b088eb901d 4eb65461-5971-4b8c-9d6a-54a96c7036cf Imprimatur Public De la Villa_imprimatur_unige.pdf 298359 application/pdf 1626734da8fbf1812ddf94c99043abb40e9dc35c6988917b876b7de1bc13fe4e restrictedAccess Faculté des sciences de la société / Institut d'histoire économique Paul Bairoch

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