Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/324388 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
CITYPERC Working Paper No. 2025-02
Publisher: 
City, University of London, City Political Economy Research Centre (CITYPERC), London
Abstract: 
This study theorizes the relationship between sovereign debt and income inequality and shows that increases in public indebtedness are robustly associated with increases in the income share of the top one percent in the US since the 1960s. First, the paper outlines the mechanisms through which public debt is linked to the top one percent income share, via interest payments and capital gains from bond trading. Subsequently, it scrutinizes the evolution of public debt and the income share of the top one percent in the US, in parallel with the historical development of political and economic institutions. Building on the historical analysis, it demonstrates econometrically that interest payments and total returns on domestic and foreign public debt are positively associated with the income share of the top one percent in the US for the period 1960 to 2019.
Subjects: 
public debt
income inequality
top one percent
USA
JEL: 
D31
H63
B51
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.