Martin Barnes on The Debt Supercycle: In Its Final Innings?

In the UK our debt to GDP ratio stands at about 101%, in the US its national debt is now $35 trillion and in Japan its debt to GDP ratio is a whopping 261%.  Join me and celebrated economist Martin Barnes at the first of our Autumn Series of lectures as he ponders whether we may well be reaching the end of the line as governments borrow more and more.

The debt-to-GDP ratio of the developed world has been in an upward trend since the early nineteen eighties. At various stages throughout this period many have considered that we have ‘too much debt’. Have we finally reached the period when there is indeed ‘too much’ debt? What are the consequences if we have reached such a turning point and how is the debt-to-GDP ratio likely to fall in the years to come? What does this all mean for financial markets and society in general? In his lecture Martin seeks to answer all these questions utilising fifty years of experience as an economist in the private sector primarily advising financial institutions.

Martin started his economics career at British Petroleum in 1973 before becoming Chief Economist at Edinburgh’s Wood Mackenzie. He later emigrated to Montreal to join BCA Research, the world’s largest independent investment research firm, where he worked for 34 years before returning to Scotland.