In conjunction with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Princeton Sovereign Finance Lab hosted a side event to the spring World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings on April 23. A panel of researchers, civil society organizations, and members of the U.N. Expert Group on Debt met at the SPIA DC Center to discuss “Practical solutions to the financing for development impasse.” Moderating was Layna Mosley, a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton SPIA and director of the Princeton Sovereign Finance Lab.

“This meeting offers the opportunity for cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral conversations regarding government finance in Global South countries. As governments grapple to finance development as well as to adapt to climate change, understanding better the domestic and international politics surrounding sovereign borrowing is fundamentally important,” Mosley said.

The side event followed the Lab’s second annual Politics of Sovereign Finance Conference, which brought together scholars from universities around the world, including Eduardo Bhatia, a John L Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor and Visiting Lecturer in Public and International Affairs; members of various International Monetary Fund and World Bank divisions; national government officials; and private sector representatives. Topics discussed included the domestic politics related to sovereign borrowing; climate finance; debt sustainability metrics; geopolitics and access to credit; and the role of international financial institutions and private investors in addressing debt crises.