Debt in service of the state -- States and the limits of borrowing -- Democratization and globalization -- Caveat emptor -- Managing problem debts -- Successful consolidation -- Warfare to welfare -- Cycles of debt -- Oil and water -- Missed opportunities -- Debt to the rescue -- COVID-19.

"Scholars differ on whether Federal Reserve intervention mitigated banking panics during the Great Depression and in recent years. The last panic prior to the Depression sheds light on this debate. In April 1929, a fruit fly infestation in Florida forced the U.S. government to quarantine fruit...