English
日本語English中文ItalianoFrançaisDeutschEspañol
Sign in Admissions
NOMISMA SCHOLA
Read the textbooks TextbooksRoutesColumnFilms & narration
Go deeper by course Courses
Verify with the coins CoinsGlossarySourcesPractice
Think with the patterns Patterns
About the school Start hereFacultyContactThe discipline
Admissions Sign in
Language
日本語English中文ItalianoFrançaisDeutschEspañol

public debt

公債 ／ public-debt　—　Institutions

The instrument by which a government borrows widely from private hands.

Écu of Louis XVI Écu of Louis XVI1783 Assignat of 5 livres (national lands) Assignat of 5 livres (national lands)1789–96 George III Sovereign 1817 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) George III Sovereign 1817 (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)1817
A photograph of the real thing this term names.

⚠ The institutionalization of debt was a major turning point in monetary history. The moment parliaments began to guarantee repayment, rather than kings borrowing and defaulting as individuals, national debt became an object of investment, and interest rates fell.