Sovereign Debt Management 1st Edition

OF SOVEREIGN DEBT IN 2014An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green ChambersSince the 1980s approximately, if not some time before, sovereign debt has emerged as a well-nigh intractable international problem. Writing in the foreword to this thoughtful and scholarly examination of sovereign debt, John B Taylor of Stanford University refers to trenchant observations made by the book’s erudite and world renowned co-author Lee Buchheit to the effect that ‘there are several key common elements in sovereign debt crisis, whether in emerging economies, or in some of the more advanced European countries today. ‘You can see these elements,’ remarks Taylor ‘in all the chapters of this book.’Published recently by the Oxford University Press, the book, in the words of its co-author Rosa Lastra presents ‘a general treatise on sovereign debt management’ and contains no less than twenty-eight learned articles replete with the carefully researched analyses of no less than thirty-six expert contributors, mainly from top international law practices, government agencies and leading academic institutions.Their impressive slate of practical experience says Lastra, includes lending, borrowing, regulating, analyzing restructuring and litigating sovereign debt. The idea for the book was the fortunate outcome of the meeting of the International Monetary Law Committee in Rome in 2011 – this being a standing committee of the International Law Association.Easy to navigate, the book includes a detailed table of contents, a useful index and extensive tables of cases and of legislation. To say that the book is a brilliant and time-saving research tool is a bit of an understatement, for the amount of research contained in this single volume is truly mind-bending.We lost count of the number of journals cited in the footnotes, but we would estimate over a hundred. This is certainly an invaluable source of wisdom and insight into the thorny problems created by international debt which now afflicts developed as well as emerging countries -- plus, there is considerable emphasis on postulating its causes and possible cures.The various articles, particularly those by Buchheit -- who originally trained as a philosopher before reading law -- and for whom this book is a tribute -- will provide much food for thought on sovereign debt in particular and debt in general. ‘Borrowing money, he says in the book’s final article ‘can become a hideous addiction’ further pointing out that democracies in particular, struggle with the grim realities.By the way, the fascinating biographical note on Buchheit is well worth reading. Appropos the Scottish referendum and the ongoing secessionist problems of the Ukraine, it is interesting and strangely topical to note the title of his thesis published by Yale University Press in the 70s: ‘Secession: the Legitimacy of Self-Determination’, which focused on, for example, Katanga, Biafra, the Kurds and Bangladesh.Suffice to say that this book should attract a wide readership, not merely of lawyers, but economists, of course, as well as commentators, policy makers and politicos worldwide.The publication date is 2014.