Do Investors Care About Odious Debts?

The Tsarist Russian government used borrowed funds to repress domestic political movements. Vichy France borrowed while collaborating with the Nazis. King Leopold used borrowed funds to engage in horrific exploitation and repression in the Congo Free State, and these debts were later assumed by Belgium. There are nearly endless examples of truly odious sovereign debts. Do investors care about any of this? And if so, why? Our guest Kim Oosterlinck (Universite Libre de Bruxelles; Solvay Brussels School of Econ. & Mgmt.) is perhaps the foremost expert on such questions. We talk with Kim about odious debt, with a sidebar on efforts to recover looted art.

Producer: Leanna Doty