Hello and welcome to the first Inside Economics show.
I'm Rachana Shanbhogue, The Economist's Business Affairs Editor,
and I'm joined in the studio by Henry Curr, our Economics Editor.
Hi, Henry.
Hi, Rachana.
And from New York by Mike Bird, our Wall Street Editor.
Hello, Mike.
Hi Rachana.
Once a month, Henry, Mike, and I will explore a big economic question or a key trend,
setting out what we think is going on and where we expect the global economy to go next.
Today, we're going to focus on the rich world's ever-mounting public debt problem.
Henry, this is based on your special report, which you spent weeks researching and thinking about.
We'll explore first what's been happening with public debt in the rich world
and then talk about the ways in which governments might try to escape their debt burden.
Henry, if I start with you, just take us through what's been happening to public debt in advanced economies.
Basically, it's at a really historical high across advanced economies.
It's higher than it's been at any time since the Napoleonic War.
That's been true since the COVID-19 pandemic.
And we have a chart on this.
There we go.