{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.023432552248258392, 'fraction_numerical': 0.006966434452184927, 'mean_word_length': 5.100386100386101, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Cost of Default: Private vs. Official Sovereign Debt Restructurings

This paper studies the relationship between sovereign debt default and (short term) GDP growth taking into account the depth of a debt restructuring and distinguishing between commercial and official sovereign debt restructurings. Analyzing default episodes in 117 countries over the period 1975-2013, I find that, in the short term, defaults are correlated with significant contraction of output growth. Moreover, by controlling for both the occurrence and the magnitude of private and official defaults, I am able to detect a more lasting and negative link between default and growth (which eventually turns out to be positive but only for haircuts). In both cases I find evidence of a trade-off concerning the restructuring's size. Higher haircuts, however, may have some benefits in the short-run, but in turn imply a negative stigma which lower growth over a longer period. Conversely, higher amount of official restructuring may have some costs in the short-run, but are associated to an increase in growth in the long run. Adopting an alternative specification, in which the dependent variable is a country's credit rating, I investigate whether variation in the borrowing costs (highly correlated with credit ratings) may be one of the channels behind the link between restructuring and growth. I find that, in the case of haircuts, an improvement in the borrowing conditions a few years after the restructuring may explain a growth recovery. For official restructurings the evidence is more mixed.