If money makes the world go 'round, debt speeds the turn. But what is debt? Debt and credit are social bonds that enable extended reciprocity over time and are a logical pair of formalised exchanges. The creditor gives something to the debtor, who owes the creditor and promises to give something back later. Essentially, debt gives a debtor time, which is normally calculated in money, to pay back what they owe. Adding regular interest rates, debt buys time.

• What is debt? What is money? What is capital?
• In which way is our capitalist economic system built on debt?
• Does debt force unsustainable growth and deepen inequality?
• Could insolvency law reshape debt as a reflexive social medium?
• How to model democratic debt restructuring?

In legal terms, both parties (creditor and debtor) enter into a binding contract. If the contractual object is money, the bond is called debt. From an analytical point of view, all time-delayed transactions are credits or debts.