Conversations with Economists: Who pays for America's debt? Mortgage rates in the US are back above 7%. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate in September, for the first time since 2023, but a 30-year mortgage follows the long end of the bond market, and something else is pushing that up. Your host Tarek Hassan asks what is really driving long-term rates, whether America can grow its way out of this mess, and what it would take to make Congress act decisively to cut the debt and help homeowners. Joining him: Larry Kotlikoff, who has spent decades counting the debts that never appear on the official books, and BU alum Greg Daco, who forecasts the economy for a living. Tarek Hassan is Professor of Economics at Boston University and a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Centre for Economic Policy Research. His research spans international finance, macro-finance, and how uncertainty shapes where firms invest. Laurence Kotlikoff is a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor and Professor of Economics at Boston University, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and President of Economic Security Planning, Inc. His research spans fiscal policy, generational accounting, Social Security and personal finance. More from Larry: Economics Matters, his newsletter and podcastMoney Magic: An Economist's Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life (Little, Brown Spark, 2022)The US is in worse fiscal shape than Italy, his VoxEU column on the study he describes in the episodeMaxiFi, his financial planning software Gregory Daco is Chief Economist at EY-Parthenon, Ernst & Young LLP, where he leads research on the global economy, central bank policy and fiscal policy. He was President of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) for 2025-26 and won the 2019 Consensus Economics Forecast Accuracy Award. He holds an MA in Economics from Boston University. More from Greg: His latest EY-Parthenon researchECON-versations with NABE, the NABE podcast, where he co-hosts The Inflation Brief. Board of Trustees, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds. 2026. The 2026 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds. Washington, DC: Social Security Administration. Congressional Budget Office. 2026. The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2026 to 2036. Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office. Dicarlo, Emanuele, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Mauro Mare, and Marco Olivari. 2025. "Measuring What Matters: Why Italy May Be in Better Fiscal Shape than the US." NBER Working Paper 34340. https://doi.org/10.3386/w34340. Kotlikoff, Laurence J., and Jeffrey Sachs. 1998. "The Personal Security System: A Framework for Reforming Social Security." Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review (March/April): 11-13. PDF. Every BU graduate is automatically a member of the BU Alumni Association. Membership is free and for life, with career resources, events and lifelong learning. Find out more at bu.edu/alumni.
