Paul Krugman: Unraveling the "Future Generations" Debt Debate

The economist Brad DeLong recently took on Professor Nick Rowe, of Carlton University, over the bizarrely confused issue of intergenerational debt; in a moment I'll try to offer a new way of explaining why the conventional presentation is all wrong.

"In Nick Rowe's world the next generation's taxpayers are taxed to pay off the debt — and so they are losers," Mr. DeLong wrote in a blog post on Oct. 12. "And in Nick Rowe's world the next generation's debt-holders are not gainers."