The national debt
a short history
- ISBN: 9781805263135
- Editorial: C. Hurst & Co. Ltd.
- Fecha de la edición: 2025
- Lugar de la edición: London. Reino Unido
- Encuadernación: Rústica
- Medidas: 23 cm
- Nº Pág.: 360
- Idiomas: Inglés
While it is central to today's politics, few people fully understand the National Debt and its role in shaping the course of British history. Without it, Britain would not have gained--and lost--two empires, nor won its wars against France and Germany. But Britain has also been moulded by attempts to break free of the Debt, from postwar Keynesian economics to today's austerity.
Martin Slater writes a vivid tale coloured with some 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, Adam Smith and Keynes.
From medieval times to the 2008 financial crash and beyond, The National Debt explores the changing fortunes of the Debt, and so of Great Britain.
List of Figures, Tables and Boxes; Acknowledgements; Preface; A Note on Data and the Value of Money Over Time; 1. Introduction: Should We Worry?; 2. Pre-history; 3. The Beginnings of the National Debt; 4. War and Peace in the Eighteenth Century; 5. Pitt's Sinking Fund and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars; 6. The Nineteenth Century: A Century of Peace; 7. The First World War; 8. The Inter-War Years; 9. The Second World War; 10. The Post-Second World War Years; 11. National Debt and the 'United' Kingdom? 12. The Debt: Other Standards of Comparison13. Is There More Than the National Debt?; 14. Conclusions; Appendix I: Bond Technicalities; Appendix II: Retirement, Aging and the National Debt; Notes; Select Bibliography; Index