Debt

People demonstrate in Lafayette Park across from the White House in Washington, June 30, 2023.

Student loans can be ‘simple’ and ‘automatic.’ Other countries offer lessons to the US.

The price of higher ed

In the US, interest on student loans started accruing again on Sept. 1. Soon, more than 40 million borrowers will have to resume their payments. The US is an outlier when it comes to high tuition and the debts that students take on.

three white women outside laughing on a campus

Denmark pays students to go to college. But free education does have a price.

The price of higher ed
A farmer works in a paddy field under the power lines near Nam Theun 2 dam in Khammouane province in Laos, Oct. 28, 2013.

How a Chinese company took control of an entire nation’s electrical grid

Development
Nicolas Maduro

Facing default, Venezuela signs debt deal with Russia

Economics
St Andrews foam fight

Four things you need to know about paying for college

Education
Occupy Wall Street demonstrators wear signs around their neck representing their student debt during a protest against the rising national student debt in New York on April 25, 2012.

‘If you owe the bank $1 trillion, you own the bank,’ say student debtors who are fighting back

Education

The number of college graduates with debt is rising quickly, and some students have had enough. A group known as the Corinthian 15 say they’re going on a “debt strike,” hoping to force action to cancel the debts they owe to a for-profit education company — and spur broader change.

The new, young, leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wants debt forgiveness and an end to European austerity measures but as you can see, if he exits through the window it's a long way down.

A Greek tragedy or comedy: Cartoonists aren’t yet sure when it comes to Alexis Tsipras

Global Politics

He’s young, leftist and atheist and he’s has had it with the EU’s austerity measures. Political cartoonists are indebted to the new Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras

A woman walks past a currency exchange store with an Argentine national flag on display in Buenos Aires' financial district on August 14, 2014

How a New York court got to dictate terms to a entire country

Finance

Argentina has South America’s third-largest economy, but many of its financial decisions are now subject to the review of a New York court. That’s because Argentina turned to American firms to borrow money, and the US legal system now gets to decide how its debts will be handled.

A man looks at a poster placed on an advertising board that reads "Yesterday, Braden or Peron - Today: Griesa or Cristina", in Buenos Aires on July 29, 2014. Argentine debt negotiators held talks in New York on Tuesday with the U.S. mediator in the South

The new Argentine debt crisis resurrects painful memories and fears of economic disaster

Economics

Argentina defaulted for the second time in 13 years after last-ditch talks with US hedge funds collapsed. Many Argentines worry that unless a deal is reached, another default could crash the peso and lead to inflation and unemployment.Argentina defaulted for the second time in 13 years after last-ditch talks with US hedge funds collapsed. Many Argentines worry that unless a deal is reached, another default could crash the peso and lead to inflation and unemployment.

The World

Are depression-era services now bankrupting recession-era states?

Global Politics

All across the country, smaller budgets — county, municipal and state — struggle to pay for underfunded civic services. Is it possible that the services we’ve come to depend on since the New Deal are, in fact, acting as an ‘architecture of debt?’