About Us

The Private Debt Project

The Private Debt Project is an initiative of the Governor’s Woods Foundation committed to expanding the study of the relationship between private debt, economic growth, and financial stability.  The Project is based on the understanding that private debt is as central to an economy’s performance as such fundamental concepts as savings, investment, and productivity growth.  It is also at the root of the pattern of financial boom and bust that so many economies have experienced over the course of history, most recently in the 2008-09 financial crisis in the United States and the Euro-zone crisis that followed.

In spite of the centrality of private debt to economic growth and financial booms and busts, it receives relatively little attention in policy circles and relatively little study among academics.  The goal of the Private Debt Project is to help correct this neglect by supporting and publishing research and writing on issues related to private debt and by making available resources to scholars and policy-makers. 

The Private Debt Project invites proposals for papers related to the study of private debt and its relationship to economic growth and financial stability.  The Private Debt Project is a project of the Governor’s Woods Foundation dedicated to advancing the study of the macro and micro-economics of private credit in the economy as well as its social, political and historical aspects. It aims to create a community of researchers as well as a forum to inform the educated public and policy makers on this important and under-explored topic.   

Write for Us

The Private Debt Project invites proposals for papers related to the study of private debt and its relationship to economic growth and financial stability. Founded in 2016, the Private Debt Project is a project of the Governor's Woods Foundation dedicated to advancing the study of the macro and micro-economics of private credit in the economy and its political, social, and cultural underpinnings and consequences.

The Project seeks proposals for papers and extended research reports for 2019. Honorarium will range between $1000 and $5000 depending on the length and depth of the proposed research and writing. Proposals for larger special research projects are also welcome. We especially encourage applications from junior and younger scholars doing original research. Among the topics on which we would welcome proposals are the following:

• Measuring the size and risks of the debt-based economy, including an examination of whether currently used indicators such as debt to GDP fully capture the risks of private debt;
• The relationship between debt bubbles, credit cycles, and macroeconomic policy in the post-Bretton Woods era;
• The debate over endogenous money, debt, and the relative merits of financial and monetary sovereignty;
• The effects of central bank balance sheet expansion on debt growth and asset prices on the one hand and the effects of central bank balance sheet reduction (QT) on the other;
• Comparative studies of debt in investment-intensive, high-savings economies versus debt in more liberalized, low-savings societies;
• Research into the levels, profiles, and sustainability of corporate borrowing following the Great Recession;
• The make-up, management, and implications of China's debt load;
• The economics of highly indebted advanced economies: economies with concurrently high private and public debts;
• Pathways for debt deleveraging and debt management in the Eurozone.
• We are both interested in developing stand-alone papers and medium-term research projects.

Please send proposals or inquiries to [email protected] 

Notice: Undefined variable: news_articlesRecord in /home/customer/www/privatedebtproject.org/public_html/pdp/about-us.php on line 63