The Reinhart-Rogoff proposal - In a recent article in Project Syndicate, prominent academics Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff put forward a proposal for a moratorium on Emerging Markets (EM) external debt on the grounds that “there will be no alternative to … default.” They argue that the fallout from coronavirus will be “far worse than anything we have seen in China, Europe, or the United States”. According to the two academics, “the worst of the pandemic is not even expected until later this year” and the resulting shocks to global trade and commodities will push EM into “food shortages”, a “humanitarian crisis” and “most serious financial crisis since at least the 1930s”.