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Euroshock

How the Largest Debt Restructuring in History Helped Save Greece and Preserve the Eurozone

Published by Rodin Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

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About The Book

The inside story of the unprecedented restructuring of Greece’s debt in 2012—the largest restructuring in history—and how the Eurozone was stabilized and Greece was saved from exit from the Euro and economic calamity.

In the fall of 2009, the world economy was beginning to recover from the global financial crisis that had shaken global markets and had led to a sharp recession. At the same time, Europe was entering a new phase of economic stress.

By the spring of 2011, the European economy had exploded into a full-blown crisis with Greece at the center. The euro, a currency just over a decade old, was under severe pressure and there was growing speculation about Greece leaving the Eurozone and thereby fracturing the common currency, leading potentially to an unraveling of the euro.

Against this backdrop, urgent negotiations were launched to pull Greece and Europe back from the brink of disaster. This is the inside story of those negotiations.

About The Author

Charles Dallara is a highly experienced international economist who has spent much of his career dealing with sovereign debt and global financials issues. In 2011 and 2012, he led private creditors in negotiating a restructuring of Greek debt—the largest in history. Dallara is currently an Advisory Partner and Chairman of the Board of Partners Group USA, a global private markets investment firm.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Rodin Books (March 19, 2024)
  • Length: 560 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781957588131

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Raves and Reviews

“Charles Dallara’s Euroshock is a remarkable achievement. Remarkable in its authoritative and detailed insider’s account of what did (and did not) happen. Remarkable in the way it weaves “small picture” details (like dealing with collective action clauses) with “big picture” issues (like the survival of the Eurozone). Re-markable in interspersing fascinating bits of Greek history—not to mention the author’s personal history. And, not least, remarkably well written. Euroshock is and will remain the definitive account of a singular episode of financial history.”

– Alan S. Blinder, former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and author of the New York Times best seller After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead

“Charles Dallara has created a captivating personal account about one of the world’s most complicated and dangerous sovereign debt crises in modern times. He demonstrates in stark detail the human misery and economic cha¬os that can be generated by debt crises, underscoring the threat that they can pose not just to a country in trouble, in this case Greece, but to neighboring countries and the world at large. The United States is potentially on a path to an even more catastrophic debt crisis, and this book represents a clarion call to both politicians and economists to take action to avoid this calamity. A must-read.”

– Nouriel Roubini, distinguished economist; professor emeritus, New York University; and author of MegaThreats: Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, and How to Survive Them, and Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance

“There can be no-one better placed than Charles Dallara to give the inside story of the biggest crisis the Eurozone has experienced so far. As head of the Institute of International Finance, he was very close to the banks, and has a rare understanding, for an outsider, of the mysterious dynamics of European policy-making. He also has an eye for the personalities and the drama, which make this a compelling read.”

– Sir Howard Davies, chairman of NatWest Group, former director The London School of Economics, and author of The Chancellors: Steering the British Economy in Crisis

“Drawing on his unique experience and exceptional access, Charles Dallara offers a captivating behind-the-scenes look and a feel into a historic process. Dallara’s skillful handling of both financial intricacies and macroeconomic analysis serves as a poignant reminder of the delicate and often underappreciated interplay between bottom-up and top-down factors during times of crisis.”

– Mohamed El-Erian, president of Queens College Cambridge, former CEO of PIMCO, co- author of Permacrisis

“Charles Dallara, a former naval officer who once navigated a destroyer in the Mediterranean, led a group of creditors in one of the most complicated, tu¬multuous negotiations in modern economic history. Operating under intense market pressures and facing global, regional, and national political forces, his team in the end successfully completed the largest debt restructuring in history, strengthening Greece and stabilizing the Eurozone. This is a gripping story. It portrays a fascinating case of crisis leadership at its best, and I would highly recommend it to those interested in Greece, Europe, and the art of leadership.”

– James G. Stavridis, PhD, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe at NATO; former dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; vice chair, Global Affairs of T

“A unique case in international financial history: it was the private creditors, not the public sector, who initiated a restructuring of Greece’s debt. This masterpiece shows that a sense of responsibility and commitment to the common good and the long-term stability of the international system inspired the private players in this unprecedented negotiation. In the end, they helped rescue Greece and stabilize the Eurozone! Must be read.”

– Jacques de Larosière, former managing director of the International Monetary Fund and governor of the Banque de France 

“In the summer of 2011, Charles Dallara led a small group called upon to play a pivotal role in determining the fate of a people teetering on the edge of financial collapse. This was not just any society, but the Greek people, whose ancestors had given us democracy, individual rights, equal justice under law and the word economics. In a riveting narrative supported with irrefutable documentation, Dallara reveals in Euroshock how such a smart people got into such dire straits, and how they were prodded, pressed, and pushed to find the wherewithal to save themselves.”

– Nicholas Gage, author of Eleni and other bestselling books

“Charles Dallara, the right man at the right place, takes us along through his long journey of negotiations inside the perplexing corridors of modern Euro-zone politics. He provides an eloquent and convincing description of how a few bankers, under the IIF umbrella, voluntarily initiated and concluded the largest sovereign debt restructuring in history despite the big loss they suffered. The book is a personal story of perseverance and eventual triumph, with vivid descriptions of private discussions with economists, bankers, central bankers, and many key international political figures, and with frequent flashbacks to the earlier Brady Plan for Latin America and to various critical historical episodes that formed the modern Greek nation.”

– Gikas Hardouvelis, chairman of the National Bank of Greece and former minister of finance of Greece

“A fascinating insider’s story of the great Greek debt crisis and unprecedented debt restructuring that helped Greece and the Eurozone survive.”

– Graham T. Allison, professor at Harvard University and author of the best-selling book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

“The story of the Greek sovereign debt crisis, up-front and personal, told by a leading economist who experienced it at the sharp end—and never lost his affection for the Greek people, who had most to lose. A riveting read.”

– Roderick Beaton, emeritus professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King’s College London; author of Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation and The Greeks: A Global History

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