Fri Mar 21 2025

As conversation swirls around how the U.S. is going to pay back its $30 trillion debt, old concerns about public debt have been raised once again. Barry Eichengreen is a professor of economics at UC Berkeley and one of the leading experts on international currency markets and their history. His books include Globalizing Capital: A History of the International Monetary System, The Populist Temptation: Economic Grievance and Political Reaction in the Modern Era, and most recently, In Defense of Public Debt. Barry and Greg delve into the pros and cons of public debt, the mechanisms ensuring sovereign debt repayment, and the potential risks of inflation, and put modern debt levels into perspective by looking back at other major financial events in history. They also discuss the impact of political polarization on long-term financial decisions. **This episode was recorded in 2021.** *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*