ALBANY, N.Y. (May 23, 2023) — While President Biden and the Republican-led Congress continue meeting in an attempt to come to an agreement about raising the federal debt ceiling, the division leaves open the possibility that the United States could default on its $31.4 trillion debt. What would that mean for the U.S. economy? Even without a default, is this very public debate undermining the credibility of the Unites States in the eyes of the world?
The University at Albany has experts in politics and policy from its Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy available to speak about the debt ceiling crisis.
Zsófia Barta, associate professor, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
Dr. Barta's main research area is public debt and public finances, including societal conflicts surrounding austerity and the influence of government debt on policy choice. She is available to speak about the economic and financial stability implications of the debt ceiling issue.
“Perhaps the most menacing aspect of a possible U.S. default is that its full impact is impossible to fathom. Beyond causing disturbances in the U.S. Treasury markets, it would most certainly upset repo and derivative markets with unpredictable impacts on banking systems at home and abroad, and there is just no telling what the ripple effects will be on the real economy — on prices, jobs and people’s livelihoods. It is difficult to believe that all of that might be risked over what is ultimately a political disagreement over the budget.”
Greg Nowell, associate professor, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
Dr. Nowell studies the political economy and economic regulation and could speak to global impacts of government debt. Nowell is particularly interested in the banking and money sector of the pre-capitalist periods as well as the use of Keynesian economics in the industrial capitalist and advanced industrial capitalist periods.
“Congressional showboating is tampering with domestic and international arrangements it doesn't understand. The extreme right wants to take a sledgehammer to these systems which underpin every element of our daily life … We are at risk of provoking a collapse which at the extreme could look like the 1930s.”
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