Three Essays on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative Debt Relief

This dissertation consists of three essays that investigate the effects of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to my dissertation essays. Chapter 2 is composed of my first essay, which attempts to answer whether there is any moral hazard committed by the HIPC member countries as they work toward completing the requirements set by the HIPC Initiative. Chapter 3 takes a spatial econometrics approach and investigates whether there are any spillover effects of HIPC membership on adjacent countries. I use the Spatial Durbin Model to estimate the effects of HIPC affiliation on neighboring countries. Chapter 4 is a joint effort with Dr. Andrew Young. We use the Economic Freedom index and the Political Rights index to investigate the change in institutional quality of member countries from the time that they enter the HIPC program until the time that they exit. Chapter 5 concludes my dissertation.