Institute of Advanced Society (ISA) Seminars, UNIBO

The paper proposes to analyze the public debt in the context of the transformation of the modern state. The United States as a case, beyond its historical specificities, allows us to study the modern public debt in its connections both to the rise of the financial markets but also to the political vibrant, if problematic, development of mass democracy. This talk will thus argue that public debt cannot be studied as a narrow technical problem, and will show that political aspects, from borrowing to management to discharge, is always political. Focusing on the period when the United States rose to be the first economic power in the world, the paper will sketch how the economics of public debt depended on its politics, and account for the mobilization of large segments of the citizenry around this political-economic issue.

• Link to ZOOM: Click here to access
• If you prefer to attend this lecture in presence, you should write to segreteria.isa@unibo.it within March 22nd, 12 p.m. and book your place. The places will be assigned on “first come first served” basis. In order to attend lectures in presence you must have a COVID-19 Green Pass and show it on the premises. In-presence attendance is allowed for the academic community only.