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Managing the National Debt

Geoff Riley

13th June 2017

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Drawing on over 320 years of data on UK government debt, economist Andrew Scott considers why government debt increases and whether different types of debt should be used to fund government spending. The UK has an average maturity of debt of more than 15 years but in general it is cheaper to borrow short term rather than long term. He argues that issuing 3 year government bonds would have lowered the cost of servicing debt in the years since the Global Financial Crisis.

Managing the National Debt
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Geoff Riley

Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for nearly forty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD and Revision conferences in the UK and overseas.