Consumer debt powers a huge swath of the US economy. The ease with which we are able to access and use debt today is a wholly modern invention. Even a couple hundred years ago, debt was something that could potentially land you in prison and was largely unavailable to the average consumer.

Join us as we explore the evolution of debt from something that was abhorred to something that is a normal part of the everyday consumer's life, with Professor Louis Hyman of Cornell.

Louis Hyman is a historian of work and business at the ILR School of Cornell University, where he also directs the Institute for Workplace Studies in New York City. He has published two books on the history of personal debt (Debtor Nation and Borrow) and a history of how American work became so insecure (Temp).

Originally from Baltimore, Hyman received a BA in history and mathematics from Columbia University. A former Fulbright scholar and McKinsey associate, he received his PhD in American history from Harvard University.