ao. Prof. Dr. Kunibert Raffer

Preferred or Not Preferred: Thoughts on Priority Structures of Creditors

Adapting domestic insolvency procedures to sovereign states one must tackle the question whether some form of creditor differentiation, such as...

An EMF with a Sovereign Insolvency Mechanism

Greece’s catastrophe has revived the idea of sovereign insolvency. Probably due to the no-bailout rule, even quarters highly inimical to it before...

A Food Import Compensation Mechanism: A Modest Proposal to Reduce Food Price Effects on Poor Countries

Much higher food prices are putting the health and lives of the world’s poorest at severe risk. This paper proposes a mechanism to compensate for...

The Bretton Woods Institutions and the Rule of Law: An Urgent Good Governance Issue

At present proposals to reform the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) abound, and good governance and the Rule of Law have been widely preached. It...

New Resources for an Unreformed IMF?

The present US Crisis once again saved the IMF after a wave of early repayments had pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy, also making it more...

Debt Management: Issues, Options and Challenge for Developing Countries

This paper draws attention to some important problems and shortcomings in international debt management, focusing on some issues that are extremely...

Measuring the Real Debt Burden: Proposing a New Debt Indicator

In order to assess the problem of a debt overhang more appropriately, a new debt indicator is proposed that solves the ambiguity of traditional debt...

The Present State of the Discussion on Restructuring Sovereign Debts: Which Specific Sovereign Insolvency Procedure?

The paper discusses the four proposals presently on the table: Collective Action Clauses, a voluntary Code of Good Conduct for debt re-negotiation,...

Reforming the Bretton Woods Institutions

There is an urgent need of fundamental reforms of IBRD and IMF. However, before any meaningful reform can be envisaged it is necessary to enforce...

Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Analysing Donors' Aid Statistics

Claiming that its definition of Official Development Assistance (ODA) has remained unchanged, the OECD concedes changes in interpretation...

Social Expenditure, Pension Systems, and Neoliberalism

While decreasing the role of the State as such is part and parcel of neoliberal ideology, another aspect does not seem to have received appropriate...

International Financial Institutions and Accountability

The Need for Drastic Change

International Financial Institutions (IFIs) are a singular and alien element within market economies. Their decisions are totally delinked from...

Making the WTO More Development-Friendly – Some Proposals in Favour of Developing Member Countries

Identifying large deficits of the WTO with regard to developmental needs, this paper proposes changes to the better. First, still existing negative...

The Final Demise of Unfair Debtor Discrimination?

Comments on Ms Krueger's Speeches

Krueger’s proposal to "mimick" domestic insolvency laws marked the abrupt end of the IMF’s fierce opposition against sovereign insolvency. It was...

Tax-Deductible Loan Loss Reserves and International Banking

An Economist's Unbiased Analysis

This paper discusses tax deductibility of loan loss reserves, focussing on costs to the budget, hence taxpayers. Economically, reserves bring book...