scholarly journals Courts as Information Intermediaries: A Case Study of Sovereign Debt Disputes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadie Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Information Intermediaries

Familistic welfare capitalism in crisis: social reproduction and anti-social policy in Greece

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodoros Papadopoulos ◽  
Antonios Roumpakis
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Family ◽  
Expanded Concept

Familistic welfare capitalism is a model of national political economy prevalent in many regions in the world (Southern Europe, Latin America, and Asia), where the family plays a double role as the key provider of welfare and a key agent in the model's socio-economic and political reproduction. The article offers a new approach to the study this model by adopting an expanded concept of social reproduction to capture its historical evolution, using Greece as a case study. Our empirical analysis of austerity measures on employment and pensions demonstrates, how, in the Greek case, a crisis of social reproduction of the traditional form of familistic welfare capitalism was already underway prior to the well-known sovereign-debt crisis. And further we show how the adoption of austerity measures and pro-market reforms is deepening this crisis by severely undermining the key pillars of familial welfare security while rapidly transforming the model into a political economy of generalised insecurity.

scholarly journals Reconstruction Rating Model of Sovereign Debt by Logical Analysis of Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Elnaz Gholipour ◽  
Béla Vizvári ◽  
Zoltán Lakner
Keyword(s):  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Current System ◽  
Logical Analysis ◽  
Approximate Algorithm ◽  
Global Rating ◽  
Logical Analysis Of Data ◽  
Rating Agencies ◽  
Rating Method ◽  
Rating Model

Sovereign debt ratings provided by rating agencies measure the solvency of a country, as gauged by a lender or an investor. It is an indication of the risk involved in investment and should be determined correctly and in a well-timed manner. The current system is lacking transparency of rating criteria and mechanism. The present study reconstructs sovereign debt ratings through logical analysis of data (LAD), which is based on the theory of Boolean functions. It organizes groups of countries according to 20 World Bank-defined variables for the period 2012–2015. The Fitch Rating Agency, one of the three big global rating agencies, is used as a case study. An approximate algorithm was crucial in exploring the rating method, in correcting the agency’s errors, and in determining the estimated rating of otherwise unrated countries. The outcome was a decision tree for each year. Each country was assigned a rating. On average, the algorithm reached almost 98% matched ratings in the training set and was verified by 84% in the test set.

The use of budgetary and financial information by politicians in parliament: a case study

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Jorge ◽  
Maria Antónia Jorge de Jesus ◽  
Sónia P. Nogueira
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Accounting Information ◽  
Financial Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Information Intermediaries ◽  
Public Sector Accounting

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to research the use of accounting information by politicians. Based on the Portuguese Parliament setting, it seeks to understand how useful politicians consider this information to be, what type of budgetary and financial information they use, and for what purposes. Finally, the research also seeks to find out whether politicians resort to expert intermediaries or advisors help them in the use of this information. Design/methodology/approach Following a qualitative and interpretative methodology, the study draws upon interviews with Members of Parliament in Portugal (and their technical advisors (TAs)) from all political parties, in particular the members of the Budget, Finance and Administrative Modernization Committee (COFMA) of the Parliament. Findings Research shows that, due to the general lack of knowledge and the complexity of the accounting information, politicians in the Parliament do not use it frequently, only occasionally. To be better or worse informed for the debates and other activities depends on each Member of Parliament’s personal willingness to prepare oneself, notwithstanding some aggregated and previously analyzed information made available by official technical support units. Parliamentarians may also resort to TAs, who prepare the information at their request. Both intermediaries and TAs are deemed important to support parliamentarians’ understanding of more technical budgetary and financial issues. Practical implications This paper shows that politicians acknowledge there is room for improving the role of information intermediaries and advisors, who would support them to better understand and use accounting information. Parliamentary groups incharge of hiring advisors, as well as accounting professionals, in Portugal and in other countries, must be aware of the very useful role accountants play in this process. Social implications While allowing to understand whether and how politicians use accounting information, this research contributes to the process of public sector accounting reforms in Portugal, and at an international level, inasmuch as public sector accounting and reporting standards should better address these users’ information needs. Assuming that these reforms would foster more accurate, transparent and useful information for accountability and decision making, it is essential that politicians acknowledge and become real users of accounting information, in order to accomplish those objectives. Originality/value This study contributes to the general knowledge of how politicians use accounting information. Academic studies so far have not gathered enough evidence about the type of accounting information that is actually important for politicians. This paper highlights that use of such information by politicians depends on individual skills and their willingness to receive the appropriate advice.

The Greek Financial Crisis and the voluntary conferral of jurisdiction to the ECJ in the light of state immunity

ICL Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fotios Pantazis
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Member State ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
National Court ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Exclusive Jurisdiction ◽  
State Immunity ◽  
Bail Out

AbstractThe purpose of the paper is to examine the interaction between the sovereign debt crisis and the doctrine of state immunity. For this purpose, the ‘bail-out scheme’ for Greece and more specifically the Loan Facility Agreement concluded between Greece and its Eurozone partners is taken as a case study. The Agreement was signed by the contract­ing parties on 8 May 2010 and it included an undertaking by Greece to waive its immunity.The contracting parties have conferred exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute that might arise from the Agreement to the ECJ. The main consequence of this is that Greece cannot invoke the plea of immunity, regardless of the inclusion of the waiver in the Agreement. The possibility of a Member State invoking the plea of immunity during proceedings at the ECJ would make the existence of the Court pointless.There would be no formal measures to enforce the ECJ’s decision as such measures are not provided by the Treaties framework for the procedure under Article 273 TFEU. A way of enforcement that involves the institutions of the Union has to be provisioned by the Agree­ment, which has not been done in this case. Moreover, the judgment should not be en­forced as a ‘common’ decision of a national court. Overall, the paper concludes that the notion of state immunity plays a limited role in the sovereign debt crisis.

scholarly journals The Debt-Trap Diplomacy Revisited

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-66
Author(s):  
Lammuansiam Gangte
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
External Financing ◽  
Infrastructure Projects ◽  
Foreign Exchange Reserves ◽  
Fiscal Management ◽  
Productive Asset

There is a strong case to reconsider the “debt-trap diplomacy” of China. The narrative that holds “Chinese loans are responsible for the debt-crises plaguing under developed and developing countries”(The Maritime Executive, 2019)needs a critical reexamination and, perhaps, a rethink in our geostrategic and geopolitical calculations. This paper is a case study on Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, an asset handed over to China on lease for 99 years in the year 2017, which the dominant narrative claims to be a significant foreign policy debacle engineered by the Chinese. An inquiry into the crisis, however, traces its development back to the country’s fiscal management and macroeconomic realities that, the study argues, impelled Sri Lanka to take the tough call it did. Sri-Lanka is beset by twin deficits, among other macro-economic challenges, forcing its authorities to embark on external financing to meet fiscal expenditures, especially for the infrastructure projects. While the bulk of external capital comes from traditional creditors such as IMF and World Bank, the loan for the Hambantota project was sanctioned by China. Assessments from experts ruled out the economic potentiality of the project, owing to its commercial non-viability and logistical challenges. This decidedly prompted authorities to discontinue the project and the immediate consequence of which was difficulty in revenue generation, translating into substantial constraints on the fiscal front resulting from the country’s soaring debt-servicing cost. Faced with a series of international sovereign debt-payment obligations lined up in the years 2020 and 2021, Sri Lanka finally gave up its non-productive asset in exchange for some extra foreign exchange reserves to meet the debt obligations lined up in the years ahead. Out of some 3000 infrastructure projects where China has invested in, the Hambantota port was the only one used as a textbook example for “the Debt-trap diplomacy.” However, drawing from objective analyses and empirical studies this case study finds no evidence for “Debt-trap diplomacy .”

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