Forget fairness: Canceling all student debt makes great economic sense for America – here’s why

Forget fairness: Canceling all student debt makes great economic sense for America – here’s why

Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures, a cofounder of the Seattle Review of Books, and a frequent cohost of the "Pitchfork Economics" podcast with Nick Hanauer and David Goldstein.

In this week's episode of Pitchfork Economics, Hanauer and Goldstein spoke with Fenaba Addo, an associate professor at University of Wisconsin Madison whose research focuses on racial disparities and student debt.

Addo says her research has uncovered, like many economic disparities in the US, that black student loan borrowers are disproportionately saddled with higher average loan balances as well more issues with defaults and delinquencies.

She says forgiving the $1.5 trillion in student loan debt would serve as a direct re-investment into the economy, as more graduates would then be able to afford cars and homes and start their own businesses.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The word "fairness" comes up a whole lot when we talk about the incoming Biden Administration's plans to pass some form of student loan forgiveness. Supporters argue that it isn't fair that the current generation has to pay tens of thousands of dollars more for a decent college education than generations before, while wages have stayed largely flat and other expenses have skyrocketed. Some opponents argue