The financialization of Quebec student debt and the theory of monetary circuit: a case for a reinterpretation?

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines the increase in student bank indebtedness in Quebec over the last three decades. The increase in this form of indebtedness is compared with the more general rise of household and consumer indebtedness under financialized capitalism. The banks’ origin of student debt through Quebec’s state-subsidized loans programs, L’Aide financière aux études (AFE), is identified through an institutional history of this program. I then refer to post-Keynesian and circuitist literature to identify the broader monetary circuit with which student debt is embedded. The paper presents original data on outstanding student loans, interest payments, and the public and private actors managing student indebtedness. It concludes with an overview of Quebec student indebtedness related to private credit products.