This international and interdisciplinary event gathered the expertise from economists, finance and legal scholars, historians, political scientists, political economists, sociologists and anthropologists to discuss pressing sovereign debt-related issues, both from an academic and policy-oriented perspective,

The fifth edition of DebtCon included two relevant policy roundtables: one on Climate and Debt, where the speakers discussed how climate investment potentially represents a threat to debt sustainability; and a second on Debt Overhang, in the current context of new monetary and global relations, which was moderated by Rolf Strauch, Chief Economist of the European Stability Mechanism. Additionally, the conference included eight parallel sessions where over twenty academics, policymakers and practitioners presented papers on several topics, including inter-creditor conflicts, debt transparency, debt sustainability and debt relief initiatives.

The inaugural day of DebtCon5 was concluded by an inspiring ‘cloister-talk’ with Lee C.Buchheit (University of Edinburgh) and Carmen Reinhart (World Bank), moderated by Mitu Gulati (University of Virginia School of Law).

DebtCon5 was the first fully residential conference organised by the Florence School of Banking and Finance since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The successful delivery of the conference resulted from joint efforts with Georgetown University, the Centre for Finance and Development of the Graduate Geneva Institute, and the Sovereign Debt Forum.

The main event was preceded by two virtual sessions aimed at expanding the focus of DebtCon5 to non-European countries, organised by Universidad de Los Andes and by Policy Center for the New South

On 15 June, a third virtual DebtCon5 session will be organised by the International Insolvency Institute.

The conference was organised with the support of Allen & Overy, Cleary Gottlieb, the European Stability Mechanism, and the International Insolvency Institute.