Summary:
This paper empirically investigates whether donor countries punish sovereign
defaults by reducing foreign aid
ows. Our findings reject the hypothesis formulated in the theoretical literature that a default leads to a loss of foreign
aid for the defaulting country. Creditor countries directly affected by the
default do not reduce their aid disbursements. Hence, foreign aid is not used
as a punishment instrument. Neither can it therefore serve as an enforce-
ment mechanism for international debt contracts. Furthermore, other donors
even raise the amount of development assistance allocated to the delinquent
country by about 15% on average. Overall the amount of foreign aid given
to the defaulting country increases by 6.4%.