HOW TO MAKE DEBT WORK FOR US When we talk about debt and its impact on our economy, we almost always mean ‘government debt’. However, this is only a small part of the picture: individuals, private firms and households owe trillions, and these private debts are vital to understanding the economy. In The Paradox of Debt, Richard Vague shows that the real factor that drives both financial crises and spiralling inequality – but also, paradoxically, economic growth – is ever-rising private debt. The paradox is that while debt is essential and our economy relies on it, it also brings instability unless it is periodically deleveraged – and that is very hard to do. It can, however, be carefully managed, and Vague demonstrates how to do so in areas ranging from trade and housing to financial policy and student debt. ‘Richard Vague is a successful banker, brilliant author and contrarian economist with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of money and banking, and the parts of economic