‘Heed history's warnings on government debt’

Government debt markets have been around since the city-state of Venice issued its first bonds in 1171, but public debt only became tradable in the English-speaking world six centuries later. Contemporaries held conflicting views about the development. Several leading members of the Scottish Enlightenment were downbeat. As government debt across the developed world escalates, their concerns are proving timely.In his book, A Fabulous Debt: The Epic Story of How Bonds Built the Modern World, Finan