This book is a forceful entry into the debate over deficit and debt reduction that dominated Canadian politics in the 1990s.
The book argues against the Bank of Canada's contemporary effort to achieve zero inflation through a policy of high short-term interest rates, through which it hoped to put more money in the hands of indebted consumers and thereby generate jobs and tax revenues. The authors maintained that the cost of government cutbacks was too high to be sustained, and that alternative approaches existed to cut deficits--approaches they outline in this volume.
Unnecessary Debts offers a penetrating analysis of the malaise that affected the Canadian economy in the 1990s, and suggests humane alternatives to relentless government cutbacks.

LARS OSBERG is a Professor of Economics at Dalhousie University with research interests in labour economics and income and wealth distribution. He received his PhD in Economics from Yale University and has published numerous articles in academic journals and seven books, including Lorimer's Unnecessary Debts, co-edited with Pierre Fortin. He is a past President of the Canadian Economics Association.

Lars Osberg's profile page

PIERRE FORTIN is a professor of economics at the University of Quebec.

Pierre Fortin's profile page

"This is a wonderful resource book for anyone trying to understand the nature of our debt and deficit problems. It presents a realistic and just alternative to the slash-and-burn policies that currently dominate public life."

Linda McQuaig