In Defense of Public Debt

Public debts have exploded to levels unprecedented in recent history as governments responded to the Covid-19 pandemic and economic crisis. Their dramatic rise has prompted apocalyptic warnings about the dangers of heavy debts - about the drag they will place on economic growth and the burden they represent for future generations. This book adds the other side of the equation: drawing on history, it provides a defence of public debt.

Barry Eichengreen is George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of several earlier books published by Oxford University Press, including Golden Fetters, Exorbitant Privilege, Hall of Mirrors, and The Populist Temptation.

Rui Esteves is Professor of International Economics and International History at the Geneva Graduate Institute. He specializes in monetary and financial history, straddling the fields of international finance, institutional economics, and public finance. His research provides perspective on the globalization of finance, financial crises, sovereign debt, financial market architecture, the choice of exchange rate regimes and emigrant remittances, as well as rent-seeking and corruption in public office.

Asmaa El-Ganainy is Deputy Division Chief at the International Monetary Fund's Institute for Capacity Development (European and Middle Eastern Division). Previously, she contributed to the IMF's surveillance, lending, research, and capacity development work at the European and Fiscal Affairs Departments. Her experience has covered wide range of countries, including advanced, emerging and low-income countries. She has also contributed to the IMF's work on several crisis cases, including Greece at the height of the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis. She has published in the fields of sovereign debt, public finance, capital flows, and labor markets.

Kris James Mitchener is Robert and Susan Finocchio Professor of Economics at Santa Clara University. His research focuses on financial crises, economic growth, exchange-rate regime choice, and monetary economics, and has appeared in the leading scientific journals, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, and Economic Journal. He served as editor-in-chief of Explorations in Economic History from 2015 to 2020.