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By Bruno Colmant, Ph.D., Professor at the Luxembourg School of Finance
Public debt in Europe will soon break through the 100% of GDP barrier. This is the most formidable threat looming over the continent, as public debt skyrockets in an economy devoid of growth and inflation.
This raises a question: what is public debt?
Some believe it is unconnected to citizens, as if it had no effect on our individual wealth. According to them, public debt is never repaid. Instead, it is diluted over the years in a permanent refinancing process.
From this perspective, debt can be seen as something natural, representing a continuous transfer from the government's creditors to the public sector, not unlike a gigantic Social Security...
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