(Repeats story published on Friday with no changes to text)
* Private investors have little appetite for performance bonds
* Greece's euro zone partners may not have same problems
* Economists unite behind debt relief plan
By John Geddie
LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Greece's proposal to swap debt held by its euro zone creditors for bonds with payments linked to economic growth got a cool reception in European capitals this week, with one official calling it a "new trick" to a haircut.
It would be the first time official creditors signed up to an idea that is unpopular with private bondholders and only has a couple of private sector precedents. While some see the bonds as a reform incentive, others see a way to dodge paying up.
But a growing number of economists say that it could be the right method to give Greece's new leftist government the breathing space on its hefty debt payments that it says it needs to get the economy back on track after its financial crisis.
They say the official sector, which holds the purse strings of Greece's international aid package, would have more leverage than the private sector in recouping its dues - the top concern about such bonds.
"The official sector would have more power than a private investor if it felt that a country was cooking the books," said Marcus Miller, a professor of economics at Britain's Warwick University.
"It may also have some ways of getting the money as well because the European Union can levy taxes on countries."
Miller and nobel prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz were among 18 eminent economists who recently wrote in a letter to the Financial Times that growth-linked debt relief should be part of a plan to help Greece recover.
The governments proposals are vague although comments made by new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis to investors in London on Monday suggest they are targeting loans from other member states and the bloc's bailout fund EFSF. Greece's debt to the euro zone totals 196 billion euros.
There are few recent cases in the private sector. Argentina and Greece itself issued growth-linked warrants to reluctant bondholders as an extra sweetener after a restructuring.
"All of the problems that we have identified with these growth-linked bonds in the private sector do not relate to the official sector," said Starla Griffin of Slaney Advisors, who in 2013 published a survey on investor attitudes towards growth-linked bonds.
Griffin, a member of the UN's committee on sovereign debt restructuring, identified three main areas of investor concern: difficulties of verifying growth data, trading and regulatory complications, and uncertainty of income.