Gunboats, Reputation, and Sovereign Repayment: Lessons from the Southern Confederacy
研究美国南方邦联政府如何在信用记录差的情况下，通过发行棉花债券偿还军火商债务，说明贸易制裁能促进债务偿还，但仅靠炮舰模式无法支撑大规模国际借贷。
Many states that formed the Southern Confederacy defaulted on sovereign debt sold in international capital markets during the 1840s. The Confederacy also elected President Jefferson Davis, who openly advocated the repudiation of U.S. states' debts while a member of Congress. Despite its poor credit record, the Confederate government managed to float cotton bonds in England that constituted under two percent of its expenditures. The bonds were largely issued to settle overdue debts with gun contractors who had cut off trade credit. The South serviced the bonds as late as March 1865, a time of domestic hyperinflation and weeks before the fall of Richmond. Although the Confederate experience shows that trade sanctions can promote debt repayment, the gunboat model can only account for a small amount of lending. A reputation or another type of sanction would be necessary to support higher levels of lending in international capital markets.