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<span style="color:#000000;"></span> Over the course of a recent vacation, I came to understand just how true it is that economic recovery is completely dependent on the people or companies looking to re-establish themselves. Recently, my wife and I went to Iceland, a beautiful country that has had to re-invent and rebuild itself after what some economists and historians are calling the worst financial crisis ever to hit an individual country. While other countries may run larger deficits, or have significantly higher debt, Iceland – a small island nation in the North Atlantic, fell into a very particular set of circumstances. At this point, I feel it is important to point out that this post contains no empirical research whatsoever, and is based solely on my anecdotal experience from five days of driving around this picturesque and interesting country. Iceland’s near-bankruptcy was apparently driven by the collapse of its three central banks. The exposure of these three banks into international credit markets by 2008 far exceeded the National GDP of the country itself. Put very simply, the total economic output of Iceland was around 10% of the value of the total foreign debt held by the three main banks. I am not going to go into the nitty gritty of the Icelandic crisis, as that is not the focus of this article, but rather the result for Icelanders. Needless to say, there was a complex economic plan put into place that involved not only Iceland’s financial class but also the international community. The result has been that the Iceland was able to regain confidence from international lenders, the creditors who had lost the most as a result of Iceland not being able to honour its obligations. In June 2011, Iceland was able to raise $1 billion in a bond offering, which would not have been possible had the country not taken steps to regain potential creditors’ trust. Very recently, the capital controls placed on Iceland’s economy have been lifted, essentially removing the last restriction placed on it as a result of the 2008 bankruptcy. In short, the Icelandic economy recovered to functionality and even grew substantially in one important area – tourism. The days following the financial crisis saw an influx of tourists taking advantage of the devaluation of the Icelandic Krona. More recently, the Icelandic tourist economy has been driven by Iceland’s unique and beautiful geography, topography, and the like, as well as the emergence of a new and internationally acclaimed foodie culture. It is still very expensive for food travel and lodging within Iceland, however, with the emergence of new low-cost airlines it has become increasingly common as a tourist destination, which has only helped the country continue its economic rebound. All that being said, when this traveler asked different locals how the crisis had affected them, most spoke positively, explaining that it had in fact exposed a serious problem and forced the nation to rectify it, leaving the country financially stronger than before. The most common negative response was that imported goods were still extremely expensive to native Icelanders. One of our hosts explained that it was still cheaper to go to the United States every few years and buy clothes, athletic equipment, alcohol, and other commercial goods either not widely available or too expensive to buy at home. As a Canadian, I can sympathize. In the end, my (albeit limited and touristically biased) understanding was that an honest but unfortunate debtor country, under certain restrictions,  was able to effect a financial fresh start. Daniel Budd, CIRP, LIT received his Trustee licence in 2014 and has been practicing with M. Diamond & Associates Inc. in Montreal ever since. Daniel is currently one of Canada’s youngest Licensed Insolvency Trustees and sits on the New Members’ Committee of the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals (CAIRP).