Articles by Jim Tarbell

Thirty years ago, as petroleum finds were being developed in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the local political elite used potential oil exports as collateral for bank loans. This ultimately led to the highest per capita debt in South America, and, in the fall of 1999, Ecuador became the first country to default on Brady Bonds. Named after Reagan/Bush Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady, these are financial instruments collateralized by zero percent US Treasury bonds and designed to avoid national bankruptcies. read more