Defusing the US Debt Crisis By Reimagining America’s Social Contract
DATE: Wednesday, September 10 2025
TIME: 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm MST
LOCATION: College of Law and Virtual Event
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Level 6
The United States is on the path to a fiscal crisis. With mounting debt, rising interest costs, and an aging population driving unsustainable entitlement spending, policymakers face urgent and difficult choices. In this timely and provocative talk, Cato Institute economist Romina Boccia outlines the key drivers of America’s debt crisis and offers bold, actionable solutions grounded in fiscal realism and intergenerational fairness.
Drawing from her upcoming book, Reimagining Social Security: Global Lessons for Retirement Policy Changes (August 2025), Boccia challenges outdated assumptions about the U.S. social contract. She argues that defusing the debt crisis requires more than budgetary tweaks—it demands rethinking the role of government in providing entitlements, regardless of need. Highlighting successful international models, she proposes reform ideas tailored to the American context that could ensure economic stability while protecting vulnerable seniors without burying younger generations in debt.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Romina Boccia is director of federal budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute and writes The Debt Dispatch on Substack. She advises presidential administrations and the Congress on US federal fiscal policy and Social Security reform. She’s best known for being ‘an economist who speaks English’ and for promoting a fiscal commission modeled after the Base Realignment and Closure process. She’s co-author of the edited volume A Fiscal Cliff: New Perspectives on the US Federal Debt Crisis and Reimagining Social Security: Global Lessons for Retirement Policy Changes (August, 2025).
For questions about this event email events@law.utah.edu.
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