List of figures; List of tables; Preface; List of conference participants; 1. Introduction Rudiger Dornbusch and Mario Draghi; 2. The efficient design of public debt Douglas Gale; Discussion Olivier Jean Blanchard; 3. Indexation and maturity of government bonds: an exploratory model Guillermo A. Calvo and Pablo E. Guidotti; Discussion William H. Branson and Allen Drazen; 4. Public confidence and debt management: a model and a case study of Italy Alberto Alesina, Alessandro Pratti and Guido Tabellini; Discussion Mario Draghi and Lars E. O. Svensson; 5. Confidence crises and public debt management Francesco Giavazzi and Marco Pagano; Discussion Enrica Detragiache and Maurice Obstfeld; 6. Funding crises in the aftermath of World War I Gail E. Makinen and G. Thomas Woodward; Discussion Alberto Giovannini and Andrea Ripa Di Meana; 7. The capital levy in theory and practice Barry Eichengreen; 8. Episodes in the public debt history of the United States E. Cary Brown; Discussion Barry P. Bosworth and Giampaolo Galli; 9. The Italian national debt conversion of 1906 Marcello de Cecco; Discussion Richard Portes and Ignazio Visco; 10. Fear of deficit financing - is it rational? Marcus Miller, Robert Skidelsky and Paul Weller; Discussion Giuseppe Bertola; 11. Government domestic debt and the risk of default: a political-economic model of the strategic role of debt Philippe Aghion and Patrick Bolton; Discussion Jean-Pierre Danthine and Pietro Reichlin; Index.