Autore
Kuehn, Daniel

Titolo
The burden of Southern public finance: Benjamin Ratchford, David McCord Wright, and James M. Buchanan on public debt
Periodico
Journal of public finance and public choice
Anno: 2025 - Volume: 40 - Fascicolo: 2 - Pagina iniziale: 174 - Pagina finale: 193

At a time when the American South played a marginal role in the economics profession, three of the four most prominent critics of Abba Lerner and Alvin Hansen's analysis of the burden of public debt were born, raised, and working in the South. Benjamin Ratchford (North Carolina) and David McCord Wright (Georgia), along with James Meade of Great Britain, constituted the first wave of criticism in the 1940s. They were later joined by James M. Buchanan (Tennessee), who praised their contributions as "instrumental in forcing a recognition" of the burden of public debt. To understand the contributions of these economists, I draw on C. Vann Woodward's "burden of Southern history" thesis, which holds that Southerners' historical experiences gave them a unique perspective on national problems. I argue that Ratchford, Wright, and Buchanan's research on and experience with Southern public finance shaped their response to the debt theory of their non-Southern peers.



SICI: 2515-6918(2025)40:2<174:TBOSPF>2.0.ZU;2-S
Testo completo: https://doi.org/10.1332/25156918Y2024D000000019

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