Debt Relief for Poor Countries

After a massive international campaign calling attention to the development impact of foreign debt, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is now underway. But will the HIPC Initiative meet its high expectations? Will debt relief substantially raise growth? How do we make sure that debt relief benefits poor people? And how can we ensure that poor countries do not become highly indebted again? These are some of the key policy issues covered in this rigorous and independent analysis of debt, development, and poverty.

Tony Addison is Deputy Director of the World Institute for Development Economics Research Institute (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland, and was previously on the economic faculty of the University of Warwick.

Henrik Hanson is Associate Professor, Institute of Economics at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

Finn Tarp is Professor of Development Economics at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Co-ordinator of the Copenhagen-based Development Economics Research Group (DERG).