"By 2008, the United States had become the biggest international borrower in world history, with two-thirds of its $6 trillion federal debt in foreign hands" points out Jeffry Frieden, co-author of a new book called Lost Decades: The Making of America's Debt Crisis. International borrowing has been a long-standing economic tradition -- we even funded the American Revolution this way. But, Frieden points out, more recent borrowing is massive compared to the past and encouraged debt-fueled consumption rather than sound investments. We’ll look at the roots of this, and the results, including the Great Recession.
Guest
- Jeffry A. Frieden - Stanfield Professor of International Peace at Harvard University's Department of Government and co-author with Menzie D. Chinn of Lost Decades: The Making of America's Debt Crisis and the Long Recovery.
Professor Frieden was in the state as part of the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire's series called "Primary Concerns: Critical Foreign Policy Issues at the Ballot Box in 2012."
