Life in the Eurozone With or Without Sovereign Default?

Abstract

The European University Institute and the Wharton Financial Institutions Center held a conference in Florence, Italy in April 2011 that brought together leading economists, lawyers, historians and policy makers to discuss the current economic situation in the Eurozone with particular emphasis on the issue of sovereign default. This book summarizes the views presented there. The first part considers the current situation including the situations in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, the German constitution, EU law, the constraints on the ECB to buy up Eurozone government debt, and the European Financial Stability Fund. The second part covers how Eurozone sovereign bankruptcy might work, including collective action clauses, banking regulation given risky sovereign debt, the prevention of banking crises, and the sovereign equivalent of debtor-in-possession financing. The final part considers alternatives to sovereign bankruptcy including the possibility of leaving the Eurozone temporarily, an historical comparison of suspension of the Gold Standard, Argentina and other recent defaults, and the long run solution of Eurozone wide bonds and fiscal authority.