Instruments of Debtstruction: A New Database of Interwar Debt
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Summary:
We construct a new, comprehensive instrument-level database of sovereign debt for 18 advanced and emerging countries over the period 1913–46. The database contains data on amounts outstanding for some 3,800 individual debt instruments as well as associated qualitative information, including instrument type, coupon rate, maturity, and currency of issue. This information can provide unique insights into various policies implemented in the interwar period, which was characterized by notoriously high debt levels. We document how interwar governments rolled over debts that were largely unsustainable and how the external public debt network contributed to the collapse of the international financial system in the early 1930s.
Series:
Working Paper No. 2019/226
Subject:
Bonds External debt Financial institutions Government debt management Public debt Public financial management (PFM) Securities
English
Publication Date:
October 25, 2019
ISBN/ISSN:
9781513514550/1018-5941
Stock No:
WPIEA2019226
Pages:
47
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