Opinion

The Day New York Defaulted

Decades of reckless budgeting drove away the city’s tax base. In 1975, bond markets effectively ruled the city bankrupt.
The Day New York Defaulted
Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
John Phelan
|Updated:
0:00
Commentary

In November 1974, New York Times film critic Vincent Canby wrote that the city had become “a metaphor for what looks like the last days of American civilization.”

John Phelan
John Phelan
Author
John Phelan is an economist at Center of the American Experiment. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics, and worked for ten years at Capital Economics in London. He has been widely published on economic topics in popular media and in the journal Economic Affairs. He is also a contributor to the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER).