Overview
The dramatic inside story of the most important case in the history of sovereign debt law Argentina's 2001 default on $100 billion in bonds and the messy litigation that followed has had an outsized impact on sovereign debt markets, sovereign debt law, and the International Monetary Fund's policies. This is the sovereign debt case study that scholars, legal practitioners, investors, and overindebted countries must understand—and Default provides the first comprehensive account of these events. Deeply researched and meticulously documented, Default follows Argentina as it manages its tumultuous relationship with external creditors, from its December 2001 default through an intense fight over the role of the IMF in Argentina's 2005 debt restructuring and finally the April 2016 settlement of most legal claims. Pairing unbiased exposition with masterful character portraits and actual dialogue from the public record, Gregory Makoff brings his readers into the rooms—including board rooms, negotiating rooms, and courtrooms in New York, Washington, and around the world—as the events unfold. By revealing the obscure inner workings of sovereign debt restructuring, Makoff gives us a cautionary tale for the ages that lays bare the institutional, political, and legal pressures that come into play when a country cannot repay its debts. Besides making an important contribution to the literature, Default has stimulated interest from a wide range of readers around the globe, including academics, practicing legal experts, debt investors, government officials, financial reporters, bankers, staff members of international financial institutions, and general readers.
Full Product Details
Author: Gregory Makoff ,
Lee C. Buchheit
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Imprint: Georgetown University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 3.30cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.590kg
ISBN: 9781647126735
ISBN 10: 1647126738
Pages: 424
Publication Date: 02 September 2025
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
[A] superb account. -- David Skeel, University of Pennsylvania * Wall Street Journal * Default is a powerful, exciting and instructive book that clearly and surprisingly amusingly presents the 'lengthiest, messiest sovereign debt restructuring in history' (283). * ReVista Harvard Review of Latin America * This book is a pleasant surprise. * CHOICE connect * A scrupulously fair and comprehensive look at the trial of the century for sovereign debt. -- Robin Wigglesworth * Financial Times * Featuring excerpts from numerous legal briefs, oral arguments, and judicial musings and decisions—as well as revealing interviews with key participants—the book should be required reading for students of international law, and of interest to anyone wanting to understand what the ""Trial of the Century,"" as it was referred to in the press and among attorneys, was all about. * Americas Quarterly * [Makoff] packs a lot of detail about the many overlapping legal cases, the players on all sides and the macro conditions into this ""courtroom drama,"" which doubles as a guide about challenging debt restructuring. * Ziemba Insights * For students and professors, Makoff sticks the landing in authoring both a scholarly and practical history. Much ink has been spilt in academic circles on how sovereign debt markets work in theory. It took a practitioner like Makoff to explain how the world is rather than how it is supposed to be. * CFA Institute * Alternating between spellbinding narrative and dry legal analysis, he describes the thrust and parry between Argentine governments and litigious investors.... * Foreign Affairs * It is highly readable, more relevant than ever, and absolutely required reading in these times of high sovereign debt, global tension and climate finance priorities, especially in less developed, indebted countries. * Central Banking * In his magnificent new book, Default, Gregory Makoff tells the story of one of the most fascinating (and surreal, I would say) episodes in Argentina's history....The book is full of information, testimony from the main players, quotes from the international media, and statistical data obtained from various sources. All this makes it an important scholarly contribution to the literature on sovereign defaults. But there is more to it than this. There is also a fair amount of gossip, and the book is written in a lively style. It sometimes reads like a novel.... Makoff tells the story of the final negotiation, with all its drama and complexity, in a masterful way. * Literary Review * Makoff's book is well researched, relying mostly on primary sources for citations and insider knowledge of IMF meetings and strategy....The book can thus be enjoyed by historians, economists and lawyers, as well as by casual readers, though few will be able to match Makoff's knowledge in all these fields. * Survival: Global Politics and Strategy * The book is revealing of dynamics that even close observers of the Argentine ordeal may have missed....Makoff has offered an enthralling guide through it. * Journal of Latin American Studies *
[A] superb account. -- David Skeel, University of Pennsylvania * Wall Street Journal * Default is a powerful, exciting and instructive book that clearly and surprisingly amusingly presents the 'lengthiest, messiest sovereign debt restructuring in history' (283). * ReVista Harvard Review of Latin America * This book is a pleasant surprise. * CHOICE connect * A scrupulously fair and comprehensive look at the trial of the century for sovereign debt. -- Robin Wigglesworth * Financial Times * Featuring excerpts from numerous legal briefs, oral arguments, and judicial musings and decisions—as well as revealing interviews with key participants—the book should be required reading for students of international law, and of interest to anyone wanting to understand what the ""Trial of the Century,"" as it was referred to in the press and among attorneys, was all about. * Americas Quarterly * [Makoff] packs a lot of detail about the many overlapping legal cases, the players on all sides and the macro conditions into this ""courtroom drama,"" which doubles as a guide about challenging debt restructuring. * Ziemba Insights * For students and professors, Makoff sticks the landing in authoring both a scholarly and practical history. Much ink has been spilt in academic circles on how sovereign debt markets work in theory. It took a practitioner like Makoff to explain how the world is rather than how it is supposed to be. * CFA Institute * Alternating between spellbinding narrative and dry legal analysis, he describes the thrust and parry between Argentine governments and litigious investors.... * Foreign Affairs * It is highly readable, more relevant than ever, and absolutely required reading in these times of high sovereign debt, global tension and climate finance priorities, especially in less developed, indebted countries. * Central Banking * In his magnificent new book, Default, Gregory Makoff tells the story of one of the most fascinating (and surreal, I would say) episodes in Argentina's history....The book is full of information, testimony from the main players, quotes from the international media, and statistical data obtained from various sources. All this makes it an important scholarly contribution to the literature on sovereign defaults. But there is more to it than this. There is also a fair amount of gossip, and the book is written in a lively style. It sometimes reads like a novel.... Makoff tells the story of the final negotiation, with all its drama and complexity, in a masterful way. * Literary Review *
Author Information
Gregory Makoff, PhD, is a nonresident senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and a former senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. Previously, he worked as a banker specializing in sovereign debt management and served as a senior policy adviser at the US Department of the Treasury.
