Public Debt

Alors que la dette va focaliser les antagonismes politiques lors de la campagne présidentielle, cet ouvrage didactique analyse les enjeux de la dette publique et en décortique les mécanismes.Trois grandes voix s'allient pour analyser le visage du néolibéralisme en temps de covid : un ancien porte-parole de Solidaires, un ancien co-président d'Attac et un ancien maître à la cour des comptes.

La dette est devenue un outil de gouvernement de la démocratie. Si la crise sanitaire a ouvert une brèche dans les politiques qui lui sont liées, celle-ci risque vite de se refermer. Il est donc indispensable de s'armer pour bien argumenter face à ceux qui ne rêvent que de revenir à l'austérité. Les institutions publiques de la dette et de la monnaie (Trésor et Banque centrale) opèrent aujourd'hui comme une usine à garantie de l'industrie financière privée. Mais émettre une dette qui puisse satisfaire l'appétit des investisseurs mondiaux n'est pas sans risque pour la démocratie et s'accompagne de contreparties sociales, économiques et politiques qui sont négociées, à l'ombre de la vie politique, sur les scènes marchandes d'attestation du crédit. Le débat public se limite à une pédagogie rudimentaire : il faut payer la facture de la pandémie et, pour rembourser la dette, consentir à des sacrifices : travailler plus, augmenter les impôts sur la consommation (et non sur la fortune), renoncer à des services publics et des droits sociaux. Pour les pouvoirs publics, il faut « cantonner » le potentiel subversif de cette crise sans précédent. Réduite à un événement exceptionnel et exogène au capitalisme financier, la pandémie serait une parenthèse circonscrite qu'il conviendrait de refermer au plus vite sans tirer aucune leçon structurelle, avant de « retourner à la normale » d'un marché qui sert de garde-fou aux États sociaux et discipline les peuples dépensiers.

An annual collection of the best research on European and global themes, the Annual of European and Global Studies publishes issues with a specific focus, each addressing critical developments and controversies in the field. Combines a discussion of the multi-layered European and global North-South divide with an effort to retrieve alternatives to the dominant divisive use of debt as staking out claims against another party.Explores the consequences of the erasure of historical temporality in the recent period of "globalization" and "individualization" as well as new registers for political uses of the past under current conditions.Draws on socio-political, moral-philosophical and literary-artistic analyses, tracing the genealogy of debt through European history. Focusing on Europe in a global context to offer critical, historical and philosophical perspectives on debt and guilt Debt enables individuals and collectives to function and to expand their space of manoeuvre, but it also creates hierarchies and possibilities for domination. By drawing on analyses in political philosophy, political science, sociology, history, social theory and media studies, the essays in this collection discover new and forgotten ways of thinking about debt and North-South relations. They combine a discussion of the European and global North-South divide with an effort to retrieve alternatives to the dominant divisive uses of debt in staking out claims against someone else and as a means of social control.

Crise, fardeau, faillite, poison... La dette est un sujet anxiogène et clivant. Pour certains, elle est à redouter et pourquoi pas à interdire. Pour d'autres, il suffirait au contraire de la monétiser ou de l'annuler complètement. En mettant en perspective le mécanisme de l'endettement, les caractéristiques de la dette en France et les principaux questionnements qu'elle suscite, ce livre permet une prise de recul pédagogique et éclairante sur cet enjeu majeur de l'économie post-Covid. Car la dette publique n'est ni un poison ni une potion magique et il ne s'agit ni de l'interdire ni de l'annuler. Il a été possible de vivre avec depuis près de cinquante ans, et ce sera encore le cas demain grâce à des ajustements pragmatiques et des politiques économiques innovantes et souples.

This book reveals the surprising role that credit, money created ex nihilo by financiers, played in raising the British government's war loans between 1793 and 1815. Using often overlooked contemporary objections to the National Debt a startling paradox is revealed as it is shown how the government's ostensible creditors had, in fact, very little "real" money to lend and were instead often reliant for their own solvency upon the very government they were lending to. By following the careers of unsuccessful loan-contractors, who went bankrupt lending to the government, to the triumphant career of the House of Rothschild; who successfully "exported" the British system of war-financing abroad with the coming of peace, the symbiotic relationship that existed between the British government and their ostensible creditors is revealed. Also highlighted is the power granted to the (technically bankrupt) Bank of England over credit and the money supply, an unprecedented and highly influential development that filled many contemporaries with horror. This is a tale of bankruptcy, stock market manipulation, bribery and institutional corruption that continues to exert its influence today and will be of interest to anyone interested in government financing, debt and the origins of modern finance.

In seinem neuen Buch setzt Hans-Werner Sinn dort an, wo sein Bestseller 'Der Corona-Schock' endete: die Finanzierung des Euroraums aus der Druckerpresse hat in der Finanz- und Coronakrise ungeheure Ausmaae angenommen. Es wird fur Deutschland und seine Nachbarn immer schwieriger, uberhaupt noch einen Weg zwischen der Zombifizierung ganzer Wirtschaftszweige und einer Inflation zu finden. Der bekannteste deutschsprachige okonom warnt eindringlich vor den Gefahren der massiven Ausweitung der Geldmenge, die aus dem europaischen Traum von gemeinsamen Frieden und Wohlstand einen Albtraum machen konnte.

The last time global sovereign debt reached the level seen today was at the end of the Second World War, and this shaped a generation of economic policymaking. International institutions were transformed, country policies were often draconian and distortive, and many crises ensued. By the early 1970s, when debt fell back to pre-war levels, the world was radically different. It is likely that changes of a similar magnitude -for better and for worse - will play out over coming decades. Sovereign Debt: A Guide for Economists and Practitioners is an attempt to build some structure around the issues of sovereign debt to help guide economists, practitioners and policymakers through this complicated, but not intractable, subject. Sovereign Debt brings together some of the world's leading researchers and specialists in sovereign debt to cover a range of sub-disciplines within this vast topic. It explores debt management with debt sustainability; debt reduction policies with crisis prevention policies; and the history with the conjuncture. It is a foundation text for all those interested in sovereign debt, with a particular focus real world examples and issues.

'Governments should spend no more than their tax income.' Most people in Europe and North America accept this statement as simple common sense. It resonates with the deeply engrained economic metaphors that dominate public discourse, from 'living within your means' to 'balancing the budget' - all necessary, or so conventional wisdom holds, to avoid the dangers of debt, taxation and financial ruin. This book shows how these homely metaphors constitute the 'debt delusion': a set of plausible-sounding yet false ideas that have been used to justify damaging austerity policies. John Weeks debunks these myths, explaining the true story behind public spending, taxation, and debt, and their real function in the management of our economies. He demonstrates that disputes about public finances are not primarily technical matters best left to specialists and experts, as many politicians would have us believe, but rather fundamentally questions about our true political priorities. Requiring no prior economic knowledge, this is an ideal primer for anyone wishing to cut through the rhetoric and misinformation that dominate political debates on economics and become an informed citizen.

Une synthèse pour comprendre l'ensemble des données et des points de vue sur l'endettement public. Elle éclaire les diverses questions que soulèvent la solvabilité des Etats et la maîtrise des dettes souveraines dans une économie globalisée et propose des pistes pour réduire le poids de l'endettement public.

If governments followed the optimal fiscal policy path, surpluses in good times would counter necessary deficits during economic downturns, leading to worldwide balance. The world, however, has chosen to go in a different direction in recent decades, avoiding thrift in light of a decidedly more indebted future. When financial crises kicked off a global recession in 2008, the spotlight placed on countries' fiscal conditions put pressure on policymakers around the globe to find a way to slow the growth of deficits and debt by imposing fiscal consolidations (or, more simply, austerity). How have these policies fared across the developed world? Were they even necessary to begin with? This book examines the many factors that have contributed to the success (or failure) of such policies, including timing, magnitude, accompanying policies, composition, and more, while explaining the economic rationale behind their choices.

Dans cette étude sur la dette dans le monde, l'auteur constate que l'endettement des Etats comme celui des ménages s'est aggravé malgré les premières alertes survenues dans les années 1980 et en dépit des crises financières.