The Politics of Public Debt: Neoliberalism, Capitalist Development, and the Restructuring of the State

Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, MPIfG Discussion Paper 13/7

29 Pages Posted: 6 Sep 2013

See all articles by Wolfgang Streeck

Wolfgang Streeck

Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies

Date Written: June 30, 2013

Abstract

Rising public debt has been widespread in democratic-capitalist political economies since the 1970s, generally accompanied among other things by weak economic growth, rising unemployment, increasing inequality, growing tax resistance, and declining political participation. Following an initial period of fiscal consolidation in the 1990s, public debt took an unprecedented leap in response to the Great Recession. Renewed consolidation efforts, under the pressure of “financial markets,” point to a general decline in state expenditure, particularly discretionary and investment expenditure, and of extensive retrenchment and privatization of state functions.

Keywords: Public dept, state expenditure, financial crisis

JEL Classification: H5, H6, E6

Suggested Citation

Streeck, Wolfgang, The Politics of Public Debt: Neoliberalism, Capitalist Development, and the Restructuring of the State (June 30, 2013). Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, MPIfG Discussion Paper 13/7, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2298613 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2298613

Wolfgang Streeck (Contact Author)

Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies ( email )

Paulstr. 3
Cologne, 50676
Germany

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