A Misguided Missile

摘要

How things have changed! When I studied eco- nomics in the 1960s, debt was a non-issue. The acknowledged textbook was Richard A. Musgrave's The Theory of Public Finance: A Study in Public Economy, published in 1959. To the best of my recollection debt was a pe- ripheral theme. Any student venturing into public debt risked being classified as slightly weird or at least having lost his or her orientation in the world of economics.