Is this how the great international borrowing spree ends?

Hosted by Jeff Guo and Erika Beras, Planet Money examines whether rising interest rates could bring a decade-plus international borrowing spree to an end. France is the central example: the notes describe serious concern that the world’s seventh-largest economy might eventually be unable to repay its debts. That prospect is presented as a possibility, not an established outcome. No guests are identified in the notes.

The episode’s framing connects heavy government borrowing with mounting pressure on public finances. France has been borrowing record amounts while struggling to find money to address deteriorating schools, teacher shortages and a high cost of living—problems that are drawing protesters into the streets. The notes place France within a broader pattern that includes the U.S., the U.K., Italy and Canada, making this a question about international government borrowing rather than an isolated French problem.

The immediate concern is that climbing interest rates could make the existing borrowing pattern harder to sustain, with potentially difficult consequences. France illustrates the tension between responding to demands for better public services and managing substantial debt. However, the notes do not provide debt ratios, borrowing costs, repayment deadlines or specific policy proposals. They leave open whether the borrowing spree will end, how governments might adjust and whether France’s repayment concerns will materialize.