Skip to:
  1. Main navigation
  2. Main content
  3. Footer
Working Paper

Sovereign Default in the US

Download pdf
In the absence of a judicial mechanism to reduce the debt burden of a sovereign member of our Union, the resolution process can be quick but perhaps too indifferent to the health, safety, and welfare of the affected residents. In this paper, I use evidence from the Arkansas state archives to provide a description of the events surrounding the default of the state in 1933. I examine the evolution of the negotiations, the outcomes, and the role of fiscal policy.
Topics
Financial crises
03.14.2016ISSN 2573-7953 WP 16-09DOI 10.26509/frbc-wp-201609
Keywords sovereign default, municipal bankruptcy, great depression, arkansas highway bonds
JEL Classification Codes N22, H74, G01, K10

Working Papers of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment on research in progress. They may not have been subject to the formal editorial review accorded official Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland publications. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland or the Federal Reserve System.

Suggested Citation

Ergungor, O. Emre. 2016. “Sovereign Default in the US.” Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Working Paper No. 16-09. https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-wp-201609