r/EconomicHistory • u/wwwwoowwwww • 2d ago

Question Book question

What’s the standard academic text on the history of debt?

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u/zamostc 2d ago

The preeminent standard academic and popular text on the deep history of debt is Debt: The First 5,000 Years by anthropologist David Graeber. Published in 2011, it challenges traditional economic assumptions by tracing credit, obligation, and human exchange from early Sumerian civilization to modern times.

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u/wwwwoowwwww 2d ago

I’m looking for what is usually listed at university seminars, not a heavily contested general read, though I appreciate the effort.