Public Debt

An Illusion of Democratic Political Economy

New Thinking in Political Economy series

The late Giuseppe Eusepi, formerly Professor of Public Finance, Department of Law and Economics of Productive Activities, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy and Richard E. Wagner, Emeritus Professor of Economics, George University University, US

Over the past decades, economists have witnessed with growing uneasiness their failure to explain the ballooning of public debt in most countries. This book provides an alternative orientation that explains why concepts of public debt that are relevant for authoritarian regimes are not relevant for democratic regimes. Using methodological individualism and micro-economics, this book overcomes flaws inherent in the standard macro approach, according to which governments manipulate public debt to promote systemic stability. This unique analysis is grounded in the writings of Antonio de Viti de Marco, injecting current analytical contributions and formulations into the framework to offer a forthright insight into public debt and political economy.

‘Edward Elgar is publishing high quality research volumes on the nature and value of public debt including this worthy contribution written by Giuseppe Eusepi and Richard Wagner.’
– Stefano Solari, History of Economic Though & Policy