The National Debt : A Short History

The story of our National Debt told through key events in British history. A NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR

In today''s ''austerity era'', the national debt is newsworthy once again. But this phenomenon, while central to today''s politics, can be a highly technical subject. Few people fully understand its implications.Without the national debt, England would not have gained--or lost--two empires, nor prevailed in desperate wars against France and Germany. But it heavily constrained peacetime economic policies--Keynesian economics was born out of the post-war desire to break free, and twenty-first-century ''austerity'' likewise identifies national debt as an evil. Yet it was not always so: in the peaceful nineteenth century, the debt was the cornerstone of Victorian financial rectitude.In this short history, Martin Slater traces the national debt for the national public. Far from dry economic theory, it is a colourful tale encompassing many of the most dramatic incidents and personalities of Britain''s past--from clashes between King and Parliament, American independence and war in Europe, to the abolition of slavery, the development of the Union and the role of leading figures such as Pitt, Gladstone and Adam Smith.From medieval times to the 2008 crash and beyond, The National Debt explores the changing fortunes of the national debt, and of the nation itself.