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Sustainability of public debt: Some theoretical considerations

Author

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  • Alfred Greiner

    (Bielefeld University , 33501 Bielefeld, Germany)

Abstract

This paper elaborates on the relationship between sustainability of public debt and the debt to GDP ratio in case the interest rate on public debt exceeds the growth rate of GDP. When the primary surplus relative to GDP positively reacts to a higher debt to GDP ratio, a bounded debt to GDP ratio guarantees sustainability. Further, an unbounded debt to GDP ratio is not compatible with sustainability, even if the primary surplus relative to GDP strictly rises as the debt to GDP ratio increases. Finally, sustainability is excluded if the initial debt to GDP ratio exceeds a critical threshold.

Suggested Citation

  • Alfred Greiner, 2011. "Sustainability of public debt: Some theoretical considerations," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 31(4), pages 3311-3319.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-11-00753
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. María del Carmen Ramos-Herrera & Simón Sosvilla-Rivero, 2016. "Public debt and economic growth: An empirical evaluation," Working Papers 16-06, Asociación Española de Economía y Finanzas Internacionales.
    2. Greiner, Alfred, 2012. "Public debt in a basic endogenous growth model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1344-1348.
    3. Niklas Potrafke & Markus Reischmann, 2012. "Fiscal Equalization Schemes and Fiscal Sustainability," ifo Working Paper Series 141, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    4. Pegkas Panagiotis, 2019. "Government Debt and Economic Growth. A Threshold Analysis for Greece," Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 25(1), pages 1-6, February.
    5. Atsumasa Kondo, 2016. "Sustainability of Public Debt in an AK Model with Complex Tax System," Discussion Papers CRR Discussion Paper Series A: General 21, Shiga University, Faculty of Economics,Center for Risk Research.
    6. Samia Omrane Belguith & Foued Badr Gabsi, 2019. "Public Debt Sustainability in Tunisia: Empirical Evidence Estimating Time-Varying Parameters," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(2), pages 550-560, June.
    7. Greiner Alfred, 2013. "How to test for debt sustainability? Some theoretical reflections on an empirical test," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(3), pages 2357-2364.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public Debt; Primary Surplus; Inter-temporal Budget Constraint; Sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook

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