In this lively history of consumer debt in America, economic historian Louis Hyman demonstrates that today's problems are not as new as we think.
"Borrow" examines how the rise of consumer borrowing--virtually unknown before the twentieth century--has altered our culture and economy. Starting in[...]
Before the twentieth century, personal debt resided on the fringes of the American economy, the province of small-time criminals and struggling merchants. By the end of the century, however, the most profitable corporations and banks in the country lent money to millions of American debtors. How did[...]