.svg){kind=icon}
.svg){kind=icon}
%201.svg){kind=icon}
%201.svg){kind=icon}
.svg){kind=icon}
.svg)
.svg)
Kris James Mitchener
Kris James Mitchener is the Robert and Susan Finocchio Professor of Economics at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. He is a Research Fellow at Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and a Research Associate at National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Centre for the Competitive Advantage of the Global Economy (CAGE) and CES-ifo. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and has held visiting positions at the Bank of Japan, the St. Louis and San Francisco Federal Reserve Banks, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREi). Mitchener is currently editor of Explorations in Economic History. His research interests include exchange-rate-regime choice, financial crises, the effects of empire on trade and development, Asian integration and development, financial regulation and supervision, and economic growth.
.svg)
Public debt through the ages
The history of sovereign debt evolved over time along with the purposes for which governments borrowed: first State-building, then public-good provision, and most recently social welfare and entitlements. Although many periods when debt-to-GDP ratios rose explosively culminated in funding crises, debasements, and restructurings, less widely appreciated are episodes of successful debt consolidation achieved through rapid growth or budgetary discipline. This article analyses the economic and political circumstances that made these debt consolidation episodes possible.
