Public Debt, Inequality, and Poer The Making of a Modern Debt State [Paperback]

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Who are the dominant owners of U.S. public debt? Is it widely held, or concentrated in the hands of a few? Does ownership of public debt give these bondholders power over our government? What do we make of the fact that foreign-owned debt has ballooned to nearly 50 percent today? Until now, we have not had any satisfactory answers to these questions.Public Debt, Inequality, and Poweris the first comprehensive historical analysis of public debt ownership in the United States. It reveals that ownership of federal bonds has been increasingly concentrated in the hands of the 1 percent over the last three decades. Based on extensive and original research, Public Debt, Inequality, and Power will shock and enlighten.

Sandy Brian Hageris Postdoctoral Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He has published in various journals, includingNew Political EconomyandSocio-Economic Review.

"These days, the topic of America's debt stirs heated political debate. But one of the most important facts in this discussion has hitherto been obscured: who actually owns that debt inside America? Hager has done some fascinating and path-breaking research to answer that question, and concluded that the ownership pattern is surprisingly concentrated—and unequal—and this may have implications for how the entire debt debate develops in the coming years. This is an illuminating work that deserves wide attention."—Gillian Tett, Financial Times

"The relationship between the ownership structure of government debt and economic inequality—between public finance and the class structurlS%