Tonight’s subject is one that has attracted increasing attention over recent years – namely, the growth of household debt. There is no doubt that this debt has grown quickly over the past decade, and this has prompted a number of people to suggest that it is too high and that it presents a threat to the future health of the economy. What I would like to do tonight is to examine household debt f...

Horizontal gene transfer has been increasingly documented between eukaryotes, but a new study suggests a much larger role for horizontal gene transfer in physiological adaption through the transfer of photosynthetic pathway genes.

We analyze the determinants of government debt under the twin assumptions that governments have limited horizons and default only when government income falls short of debt service requirements. We derive a government’s maximum sustainable debt ratio, that is, the debt ratio chosen by a myopic government whose horizon does not extend beyond its current term in office. Maximum sustainable debt v...