Evaluation of Harvard University's debt for education swap with Ecuador yields a clear bottom line: Harvard unambiguously gains from the deal, since tuition receipts more than double initial outlays, and the university acquires assets to fund research in Ecuador. Ecuador's economic benefits, however, are less clear, since the dollar outflow from Ecuador may exceed the amount of new scholarship aid plus the true buyback value. Participants in future debt for education deals must consider both

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... uncertainty of economic gains and possible macroeconomic consequences for the debtor country.