Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises

What Hacker News says

1. gwbas1cSep 2025
   If you want to understand what's going on, I strongly recommend reading Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio.

   The book is highly researched and explains the pattern we're in, and what we'll see next.

   https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Navigating-Big-Debt-Crises...

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2. H8crilASep 2019
   Serious debt crises are always eventually handled by printing money. Or, more precisely, the crises keep on going till the authorities decide to print money. It is only a question of "when". This can happen in a variety of ways, for example in the Great Depression it was handled by devaluing the dollar against the gold (Executive Order 6102 and the follow ups), in 2008 it was handled by QE.

   There is such a thing as excessive money printing, though.

   See Ray Dalio's book "Principles for navigating big debt crises" which analyzes 48 debt crises across the world, a few of them in great detail and establishes a general framework of the way those play out.

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3. H8crilASep 2019
   Detailed descriptions of ~50 debt crises that had happened in the past century, both deflationary like the 2008 subprime crisis in the US and much of the world, and inflationary like the 1930s Weimar Republic hyperinflation can be found in Ray Dalio's book "Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises". The main determinant of whether a debt crisis becomes deflationary vs inflationary is whether the debt is denominated in local currency (and can therefore be managed/socialized via money printing, like QE after 2008, or the Roosevelt's Executive Order 6102 in 1933 with the follow-ups) or in a foreign currency (when the debtor country cannot do so). Only borrow in a currency in which you earn! This applies to governments too.

   There's also a good 30 minute video on the topic:

   How The Economic Machine Works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHe0bXAIuk0

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4. ericdAug 2019
   Go read Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio. They (Bridgewater, biggest hedge fund in the world) look at data and economic history, and they’ve done quite well by it.
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5. scottiebarnesAug 2025
   On my reading list: Principles For Navigating Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio
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6. stevieveeMar 2021
   You will not struggle to find Bridgewater/Dalio talking about the following themes: - The concept of "Debt cycles" (From Dalio's book "Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises") - Interpretation of monetary policy effects on markets - Emerging markets (Mainly China) and the rise and fall of "reserve currencies"
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