The recent global recession, preceded by easy access to credit, led to a household debt epidemic. This book examines the causes, consequences and potential public policies related to debt from a social policy perspective, in which over-indebtedness is understood as a social risk. Heikki Hiilamo presents a unique conceptual and theoretical approach to the topic - one of the most pressing social issues of the modern Western world. The trajectories of increasing household debt are studied in the contexts of the US and the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Norway. Household Debt and...