Tuesday 27 March 2012

EconTalk this week

Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of public debt. One view is that there is no burden of the public debt as long as the purchasers of U.S. debt are fellow Americans. In that case, the argument goes, we owe it to ourselves. Drawing on the work of James Buchanan, particularly his book Public Principles of Public Debt: A Defense and Restatement, Boudreaux argues that there is a burden of the debt and it is borne by future taxpayers. Boudreaux argues that all public expenditures have a cost--the different financing mechanisms simply determine who bears the burden of that cost. Boudreaux discusses the political attractiveness of debt finance because the taxes lie in the future and those who will pay for them may not be clearly identified. The conversation closes with a discussion of the role of expectations in both politics and economics of debt finance.

1 comment:

Invisible Backhand said...

If you want to listen to a tedious hour and a half where they try to explain the national debt via extended metaphors about buying houses and cars, this is the podcast for you.

They don't use any actual data or numbers, and their intent isn't to inform, it is to advocate for their paymasters the Koch brothers.

Stick with Paul Krugman. He isn't trying to shill for the wealthy, and he knows what he's talking about.