International Debt: Economic, Financial, Monetary, Political and Regulatory Aspects

This book provides an up-to-date analysis of the international debt issue, and offers suggestions for the way out of the current profound crisis. It addresses: * The key aspects and principal consequences of the current debt crisis, with specific country and regional examples including Greece, the Eurozone, and the United States, and the impact on the growth potential of the OECD area, * The systemic nature of the current crisis, with special emphasis on the shortcomings of the international monetary system and on the financial, banking and fiscal dimensions, * The national and international policy efforts aimed at avoiding a global collapse, and the role and responsibility of private actors * Important issues, such as, the limits of monetary sovereignty, the case for bankruptcy procedure for sovereign states and global financial governance, and finally, * The need, in addition to the necessary bolstering of the Eurozone, for a long-overdue reform of the international monetary system, with the United States, the European Union and Japan having to take the initiative. This book was written by an international group of outstanding academic and policy experts, several of whom have acted as senior advisers in the Basel process of the reform of the international banking rules in the wake of the 'subprime crisis' and in the Greek debt-restructuring.