We investigate delegated monitoring by examining the determinants and effects of
including cross-acceleration provisions in public debt contracts. We find that crossacceleration
provision use depends on borrowers’ going concern relative to liquidation
values, debt repayment structures, credit quality, and financial reporting quality. This
suggests that the use of cross-acceleration provisions increases when the costs of
cascading defaults are lower, the conflicts between creditor classes are higher, and the
benefits of delegating monitoring to banks are higher. We also find a lower interest rate
on public debt contracts with cross-acceleration provisions, but the rate reduction
depends on borrowers’ financial reporting quality.