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Sovereign debt restructuring, odious debt, and the politics of debt relief.
- Article from:
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Law and Contemporary Problems
- Article date:
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September 22, 2007
- Author:
- Rasmussen, Robert K.
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2007 Duke University, School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I
INTRODUCTION
Odious debt is more of a literature than a doctrine. Going back to at least the 1920s, one can find arguments that countries should not have to pay back debts that are labeled "odious." (1) The central intuition is that the citizens of a country should not have to pay for the debts incurred by a prior "odious" regime when those funds did not benefit these citizens. It is simply not right to ask people to pay for funds from which they did not benefit, especially when the lender knew of this fact when it made its loan. The doctrine traditionally has an ex post flavor to it. The question is whether the acts of the past are such that we should relieve a ...