U.S. Sovereign Debt Crisis: Tipping-Point Scenarios and Crash Dynamics

With the economy facing a sluggish recovery and debt and deficits soaring, it's no longer far-fetched to say that a sovereign debt crisis could occur in the United States. Econ Journal Watch and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University have undertaken this symposium to produce and disseminate a better understanding of what a sovereign debt crisis in the United States would look like and what might bring it about.

This symposium was edited by Daniel Klein and Tyler Cowen, and contributors include Garett Jones, Arnold Kling, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Joseph Minarik, and Peter Wallison. The authors were invited to speculate on possible tipping points, associated triggers, and on crash dynamics (what happens in the crisis). The authors were encouraged to imagine possible futures, not merely as financial analysts but as political economists.