LSE IQ is a monthly podcast from the LSE which asks some of the smartest social scientists - and other experts - to answer intelligent questions about economics, politics or society. In the latest episode, the research of LSE Law School’s Dr Joe Spooner is featured, as he discusses the question of ‘Do we always have to pay our debts?’. The conversation covers trends which have made high levels of household debt central to our contemporary economic order, the difficulties this creates for average households, and the argument for widespread household debt relief.
In a related post on the LSE Politics and Policy Blog, Dr Joe Spooner discusses research on one underappreciated aspects of the contemporary household debt crisis – how debts owed to government, and particularly Council Tax arrears, have become an increasingly significant problem. The blog post discusses how local authorities collect debts aggressively through the frequent use of bailiffs, and research findings which show that these intense debt collection methods are most common in England’s most deprived areas.
Joe’s research on council tax debt collection can be found here, and in the book Oppressed by Debt: Government and the Justice System as a Creditor of the Poor. Joe’s book exploring the role of bankruptcy as a social safety net of last resort in an economy built on high levels of household debt, can be found here: Bankruptcy: the Case for Relief in an Economy of Debt.