Government debt – a neglected theme of Catholic social teaching

In recent decades, a significant number of developed countries have accumulated high levels of government debt. Historically, countries have borrowed to fight wars or to finance profligate spending. However, the development of modern debt markets and instruments, together with post-war thinking in economics, has changed the nature of government borrowing and indebtedness and our moral perception of the implications. Government borrowing effectively involves the transfer of the cost of government provision of goods, services and welfare payments to future generations. There may be situations in which this is justified. However, whether or not this is so, it is important that Catholic social thought and teaching, and indeed the wider Christian tradition, engages with this issue. Over the centuries, there has been discussion of economic problems such as inflation amongst those exploring Catholic social thought. And, in In recent years, the Catholic Church has become very involved with the question of government debt in less developed countries. Nevertheless, there has been relatively little discussion of government borrowing and indebtedness in developed countries. This is despite the fact that there have been occasions when the extent of debt has severely undermined democratic accountability and the ability of governments to undertake the key functions that are demanded of them in Catholic social teaching.