In this history of consumer debt in America, Louis Hyman shows that today's credit problems are not as new as they appear.
Borrow examines how consumer borrowing, once virtually unknown before the twentieth century, reshaped American culture and the economy. Access to money raised living standards while introducing new forms of risk.
As lending became more profitable, it displaced funds that once supported productive business borrowing, helping set the economy on an unsustainable course. Told through the stories of institutions and individuals, the book offers historical perspective on what is genuinely new, and what is not, in modern financial turmoil.
