The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100 percent of gross domestic product. Given that a significant amount of this debt is the result of governmental efforts to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis, the recession, and the anemic recovery, it is tempting to think that the debt problem is a...

The long history of sovereign debt and the associated enforcement problem have attracted researchers in many fields. In this paper, we survey empirical work by economists, historians, and political scientists. As we review the empirical literature, we emphasize parallel developments in the...

Remarks by President Dudley at the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Brooklyn Borough Hall, Brooklyn, New York.

The rise in the national debt... is entirely a consequence of the federal government’s increase of expenditures without an offsetting increase in revenues.