ABSTRACT
§ 1. It is sometimes possible to reduce the annual interest payments on public debts by conversion operations. Conversion is not repayment; it is only the exchange of new debts for old. But, if the interest on the new debts is less than the interest on the old, the immediate burden of debt is reduced. Whether the burden is reduced in the long run depends also on the other conditions of conversion. In this chapter I deal only with voluntary conversion, involving no breach, or unilateral revision, of loan contracts. I leave compulsory conversion, involving such revision, for some further mention in Chapter XXVI.
