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The carrot and stick approach to debt relief: overcoming moral hazard

Author

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  • Marin Ferry
Abstract
This paper conducts a difference-in-differences analysis to empirically assess the effect of multilateral debt relief on recipient government's tax effort. Although the results suggest that debt cancellation gives rise to greater tax efforts, they also show that most of these efforts are made beforehand in order to get debt relief and that beneficiary countries subsequently ease off on their effort once they got full debt relief. However, further tests find that such moral hazard is not observed for all HIPCs and depends upon particular features of recipient governments such as preference for present and access to new financing sources.

Suggested Citation

  • Marin Ferry, 2019. "The carrot and stick approach to debt relief: overcoming moral hazard," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 28(3), pages 252-276.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jafrec:v:28:y:2019:i:3:p:252-276.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jae/ejy023
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Ferry, Marin & Raffinot, Marc & Venet, Baptiste, 2021. "Does debt relief “irresistibly attract banks as honey attracts bees”? Evidence from low-income countries’ debt relief programs," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Ferry, Marin & de Talancé, Marine & Niño-Zarazúa, Miguel, 2022. "Less debt, more schooling? Evidence from cross-country micro data," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 153-173.
    3. Marin Ferry & Marc Raffinot, 2019. "Curse or Blessing? Has the Impact of Debt Relief Lived up to Expectations? A Review of the Effects of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiatives for Low-Income Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(9), pages 1867-1891, September.
    4. Marin Ferry, 2021. "Quel bilan tirer des initiatives d'annulation de la dette des pays pauvres très endettés ?," Revue d'économie financière, Association d'économie financière, vol. 0(1), pages 225-240.
    5. Marin Ferry & Marc Raffinot & Baptiste Venet, 2016. "Low Income Countries and External Public Financing : Does Debt Relief Change Anything?," Working Papers DT/2016/16, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    6. Marin Ferry & Marc Raffinot, 2016. "Réductions de dette, aléa moral et ré-endettement des pays à faible revenu," Post-Print hal-04258196, HAL.
    7. Maxime TERRIEUX & Benoît Jonveaux & Marin Ferry (Université Gustave Eiffel, DIAL), 2021. "Debt sustainability in Africa: state of play and future challenges," Working Paper 5b1b8e30-4a94-42f3-9e4b-9, Agence française de développement.
    8. Xu, Jiajun & Ru, Xinshun & Song, Pengcheng, 2021. "Can a new model of infrastructure financing mitigate credit rationing in poorly governed countries?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 111-120.
    9. Maxime TERRIEUX & Benoît Jonveaux & Marin Ferry (Université Gustave Eiffel, DIAL), 2021. "La soutenabilité des dettes en Afrique : état des lieux et enjeux futurs," Working Paper 5b1b8e30-4a94-42f3-9e4b-9, Agence française de développement.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    debt relief; tax effort; moral hazard; institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems
    • F35 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Aid
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General
    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General

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