The Foundations and Role of Capital Account Regulations
Brief prepared for the Foreign Policy’s Roundtable “Managing Volatility: Rethinking Capital Flows in a Fragmented Global Economy”, at the IMF/World Bank 2026 Spring Meetings.
Financial Institutions
The Jubilee Report: A Blueprint for Tackling the Debt and Development Crises and Creating the Financial Foundations for a Sustainable People-Centered Global Economy
On June 20, 2025 the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS) and Columbia University’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) published a report by a commission of global experts calling for urgent action and systemic reforms to tackle the escalating debt and development crises.
Economics & Policy
An Updated Bridge Proposal: Towards A Solution to the Current Sovereign Debt Crises and to Restore Growth
The climate agenda is now on a collision course with the rising debt crisis in developing countries. Although they have largely been treated as separate problems so far, the debt crisis is now becoming a significant obstacle in addressing climate change. Leaders of developing countries are being urged to commit to ambitious long-term climate plans, while their houses are on fire.
Financial Institutions
Support Memorandum, REF: S.4747 Hoylman-Sigal, A.2970 Fahy
In 2019, debt for developing countries stood at a 50-year high. Since then, the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war and rising interest rates in major economies’ central banks exacerbated debt vulnerabilities.
Business & Society
A BRICS Development Bank: A Dream Coming True?
BRICS leaders have approved creating a new development bank which would fund long-term investment in infrastructure and more sustainable development.
Business & Society
Power in sovereign debt markets: debtors’ coordination for more competitive outcomes
Evidence suggests that sovereign debt markets are not featured by perfect competition but power dynamics are a key determinant of market outcomes such as ex-post returns on sovereign bonds.
Sovereign Debt
Debt Sustainability Assessments and their Role in the Global Financial Architecture
Debt Sustainability Analyses (DSAs) are documents that hold serious implications for both debtors and creditors in sovereign debt negotiations. DSAs are not merely technical assessments of countries’ capacity to take on debt but are also grounded in political assumptions.
Financial Policy
Some Comments on IMF Paper on Restructuring Sovereign Debt
Stiglitz comments on the failure of the IMF Paper on Restructuring Sovereign Debt to note the importance of other conflicts of interest, the conflicts of interests among different creditors (including across different instruments) and the conflicts of interests between creditors and debtors.
Global Financial Regulation
How CACs Became Boilerplate, or the Politcs of Contract Change
The authors found this intriguing, as it is doubtful that senior political figures in the major economic powers knew what legal boilerplate was, let alone would advocate for particular clauses. There was policy content in the advocacy, however, over whether ‘market-based’ (i.e. contractual) changes would suffice to provide for orderly restructuring of sovereign bonds of developing countries in financial crisis. In fact, the CACs in question have yet to face a major test under fire. The authors found little indication of belief among the more than 100 intimately involved people in the CAC debate that they interviewed that the clauses would be important determinants of restructuring outcomes.