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A dive into the origins, management, and uses and misuses of
sovereign debt through the ages. Public debts have exploded to
levels unprecedented in modern history as governments responded to
the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis. Their dramatic
rise has prompted apocalyptic warnings about the dangers of heavy
debts-about the drag they will place on economic growth and the
burden they represent for future generations. In Defense of Public
Debt offers a sharp rejoinder to this view, marshaling the entire
history of state-issued public debt to demonstrate its usefulness.
Authors Barry Eichengreen, Asmaa El-Ganainy, Rui Esteves, and Kris
James Mitchener argue that the ability of governments to issue debt
has played a critical role in addressing emergencies-from wars and
pandemics to economic and financial crises, as well as in funding
essential public goods and services such as transportation,
education, and healthcare. In these ways, the capacity to issue
debt has been integral to state building and state survival.
Transactions in public debt securities have also contributed to the
development of private financial markets and, through this channel,
to modern economic growth. None of this is to deny that debt
problems, debt crises, and debt defaults occur. But these dramatic
events, which attract much attention, are not the entire story. In
Defense of Public Debt redresses the balance. The authors develop
their arguments historically, recounting two millennia of public
debt experience. They deploy a comprehensive database to identify
the factors behind rising public debts and the circumstances under
which high debts are successfully stabilized and brought down.
Finally, they bring the story up to date, describing the role of
public debt in managing the Covid-19 pandemic and recession,
suggesting a way forward once governments-now more heavily indebted
than before-finally emerge from the crisis.
The Galapagos archipelago in the Pacific Ocean is a place of
extraordinary biodiversity, home to species found nowhere else on
Earth and synonymous with the discoveries of Charles Darwin. But it
is also a place of competing interests: those of the rare animals
and plants, the scientists who are trying to conserve them, the
settlers from Ecuador seeking a way to support themselves, and the
tourists who travel across the world to encounter the astonishing
environment. Galapagos is the result of a five-year artists'
residency programme set up by the Galapagos Conservation Trust,
working with the Charles Darwin Foundation, as a unique way of
highlighting some of the complex issues that relate to the islands.
Twelve international artists were invited to engage with the
Galapagos on their own terms, to mix with the local and the
scientific communities, to find inspiration for original new work
and eventually to share it with a wide audience. The artworks and
essays in this book prompt comparisons with other places in the
world that are beset by multiple demands. Artists: Jyll Bradley,
Paulo Catrica, Filipa Cesar, Marcus Coates, Dorothy Cross
(accompanied by Fiona Shaw), Alexis Deacon, Jeremy Deller, Tania
Kovats, Kaffe Matthews, Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman and Joe
Gerhardt) and Alison Turnbull.
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