City Research Online

Abstract

Since the 1970s, rising public indebtedness, increasing top incomes, and wealth concentration have been widespread phenomena in almost all advanced and developing economies (Gill and Pinto, 2011; Streeck, 2014; Piketty, 2014; Hager, 2016). Regarding public debt, its macroeconomic effects have always been a controversial issue in the public debate. During the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), much of the discussion concerned the growth effects of public debt. The influential research of Reinhart and Rogoff (2009) introduced the notion of debt intolerance which suggests that when public debt exceeds 90 percent of GDP, government borrowing decreases GDP growth. However, Herndon et al. (2014) highlight miscalculations in Reinhart and Rogoff’s estimations and show that public debt increases growth even after this threshold. Regardless of the effects of public debt on GDP growth, another important yet overlooked aspect of public indebtedness relates to its effects on inequality. This dissertation theorizes the effects of public debt on income inequality and provides evidence that public indebtedness increases the income share of the top one percent in the US, Italy, and Germany.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > International Politics School of Policy & Global Affairs > School of Policy & Global Affairs Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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