Public Debt as a Form of Public Finance: Overcoming a Category Mistake and its Vices (Elements in Austrian Economics)

by Richard E. Wagner

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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.
  • ISBN13 9781108621793
  • Publish Date 22 May 2019 (first published 26 March 2019)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country GB
  • Publisher Cambridge University Press
  • Imprint Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing)
  • Format eBook
  • Language English