Could/Should Jubilee Debt Cancellations be Reintroduced Today?

Charles Goodhart and Michael Hudson

No 12605, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: In this paper we recall the history of Jubilee debt cancellations, emphasizing what their social purpose was at that time. We note that it would not be possible to copy that procedure exactly nowadays, primarily because most debt/credit relationships are intermediated via financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies, etc., rather than by governments or wealthy families directly. But we argue that the underlying social purpose of such Jubilees – to keep debt within the reasonable ability to be paid without social and economic polarisation – could be recreated via alternative mechanisms, and we discuss the politico-economic arguments for, and against, doing so

Keywords: Debt-canceling jubilees; Babylonian and byzantine empires; Equity participation; Student loans; Land tax; Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E60 E61 E62 E65 H10 H23 H80 N30 N35 P43 Q15 R52 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac and nep-pke
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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