How Sovereign Debt Really Works: Ask Me Anything live on Reddit

On September 10, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) held a live Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit. For 3 hours, our Sovereign Debt experts meet every technical or simply curious question with straight, jargon-free, evidence-backed answers-replying and signing off in their own voice.

Over 7,000 words answered 30 questions covering topics such as:

• How the IMF works behind the scenes
• Why sovereign debt differs from personal debt
• How climate finance is evolving
• What debt relief means when it comes to countries
• How to tell when a country has taken on too much debt
• Even career advice for budding economists hoping to break into the debt space!

See all the questions and answers in the Reddit thread.

Participating Sovereign Debt Experts

Anahí Wiedenbrüg - Senior policy advisor at IISD and political economist (PhD from London School of Economics and Political Science, post-doc at Oxford). I've spent over a decade on financial architecture reform and sat in the room representing Argentina at the G20 and contributing to its 2020 debt restructuring with private creditors.

Fernando Morra - Senior policy advisor at IISD and macroeconomics professor. I previously served as vice-minister of economy for Argentina and undersecretary of macroeconomic programming, where I oversaw technical negotiations with the International Monetary Fund during the 2022 Extended Fund Facility program.

Yanne Horas - Associate at IISD and lecturer at the Berlin School of Economics and Law. I have worked as a parliamentary advisor and researcher across Africa, Europe, and Latin America on legislative fiscal policy, capital flows, and financial market transparency.