Overexposed: U.S. Banks Confront the Third World Debt Crisis

Raul Madrid’s Overexposed represents the first in-depth study of the involvement of U.S. banks in the Third World debt crisis. Based on extensive interviews with commercial bankers, the book examines the decision-making process at U.S. banks that led to the lending boom of the 1970s and early 1980s as well as the role the banks played in the management of the debt crisis. Madrid argues that banks, particularly the largest U.S. institutions, played a much larger and more active role in the development and management of the crisis than is commonly believed. A comprehensive appendix contains detailed profiles of the seven largest lenders to the Third World, including data on their developing country exposures, profits, and debt conversion activities.