New Money Review podcast

New Money Review podcast


Default: why sovereign debt matters

September 09, 2024

When, why and how do countries go bust? That’s the topic of the latest New Money Review podcast, where I’m joined by Greg Makoff, a former physicist, banker, government advisor and now senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.


Makoff is the author of a recent book on what has been called “the most contentious default in history”—Argentina’s 2001-2016 debt restructuring.


In the podcast, we discuss:


  • When, why and how countries go bust
  • What distinguishes a sovereign insolvency from a corporate or personal bankruptcy
  • Who has jurisdiction over sovereign defaults?
  • What brings governments and creditors to the table?
  • Sovereign immunity and the negotiating power between debtor and creditor
  • What went wrong in Argentina’s debt restructuring?
  • How Elliott Capital Management made billions on defaulted Argentinian debt
  • The broader public policy lessons of Argentina’s debt restructuring
  • China, the IMF and the geopolitics of sovereign debt
  • Default risk in domestic and foreign currency bonds
  • Why sovereign debt problems will never go away