Public Debt as a Form of Public Finance

Overcoming a Category Mistake and its Vices

Business & Finance, Economics, Theory of Economics
Cover of the book Public Debt as a Form of Public Finance by Richard E. Wagner, Cambridge University Press
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Author: Richard E. Wagner ISBN: 9781108758338
Publisher: Cambridge University Press Publication: April 30, 2019
Imprint: Cambridge University Press Language: English
Author: Richard E. Wagner
ISBN: 9781108758338
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication: April 30, 2019
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Language: English

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.

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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.

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