Subjects

Can the public debt of major countries threaten our collective well-being? Are there limits to debt growth? Can a large country with a major reserve currency like the United States really go bankrupt? And what would such a scenario look like? These are some of the questions underlying the alarm raised for the global economy in this volume.

Ray Dalio, one of the greatest investors of our time, who predicted the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2010-2012 European debt crisis, shares for the first time his detailed explanation of what he calls the “Big Debt Cycle.” Understanding this cycle is essential to help policymakers, investors, and the general public understand where we are and in which direction we are heading. Dalio’s model points to surprisingly simple solutions for managing the debt problems that the United States, Europe, Japan, and China are facing today.

How countries go broke shows how these problems are connected to other forces–domestic politics in various countries, geopolitical relations, natural changes (droughts, floods, and pandemics), and technological changes (especially AI)–which together are causing what Dalio calls great cycle upheavals in the world order.

The book provides a 360-degree overview of the various political, economic and financial events that have marked world history. A useful work for anyone who wants to understand the interests behind the crises and geopolitical tensions that periodically occur.

The text describes the main hotbeds of crisis in the contemporary world, providing a key to understanding some of the international events of recent years. Verga starts from the assumption that by studying the past and observing the present, certain reference models can be defined that can also be valid for the future.

In particular, the author delves into the various transformations that have affected the main economic sectors, from raw materials to the media, from technology to logistics, describing the reasons that have caused epochal changes and what the inevitable economic and financial consequences are.