History of Domestic Debt in Emerging Markets

We investigates domestic public debt in emerging countries—an understudied topic in public finance, which has traditionally focused on external debt. Although the period between 1880 and 1913 was marked by the First Financial Globalization, several governments outside Europe relied on domestic borrowing as heavily as they did on foreign capital markets. This reliance on local credit intensified during the Interwar period's deglobalization. Led by Rui Esteves (Geneva Graduate Institute), Leonardo Weller (Fundação Getulio Vargas), and Coşkun Tunçer (University College London), the project addresses why certain nations borrowed more domestically than others and explores the relationship between internal and external debt from the perspectives of both issuing governments and investors.

The project is financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP).