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Public Debt as a Form of Public Finance

Overcoming a Category Mistake and its Vices

Richard E Wagner author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:30th May '19

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Public Debt as a Form of Public Finance cover

The language of public debt is an ideological language, not a scientific language that clarifies the practice of public finance.

Economists commit a category mistake when they treat democratic governments as indebted. Monarchs can be indebted, as can individuals. In contrast, democracies can't truly be indebted. They are financial intermediaries that form a bridge between what are often willing borrowers and forced lenders. The language of public debt is an ideological language that promotes politically expressed desires and is not a scientific language that clarifies the practice of public finance. Economists have gone astray by assuming that a government is just another person whose impulses toward prudent action will restrict recourse to public debt and induce rational political action.

ISBN: 9781108735896

Dimensions: 152mm x 229mm x 5mm

Weight: 300g

75 pages