IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/smppub/v12y2023i2p250-278.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Public Debt on Economic Growth: A Quantile Regression Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Chen Kong San
  • Lee Chin

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the nexus between government debt and its determinants in the context of sustainable economic growth for 97 countries over the period from 2004 to 2018 by employing a panel data quantile regression and comparing it across a fixed-effects model and a generalized method of moments (GMM) model. The different touches of debt on economic growth were analysed. The quantile regression estimates revealed that government debt has various impacts on economic growth, relying on the degree of economic performance. Government debt negatively affects economic growth across all the quantiles. More interestingly, the quantile regression estimates indicated that in countries with a very low level of real GDP per capita growth, government debt has a stronger pernicious effect on economic growth compared to upper-middle and high-income countries. Hence, our results provided insightful information for policy makers in designing appropriate fiscal policies particularly for low- and lower- middle-income countries to mitigate the negative effect on economic growth, and it should be maintained at a low and reasonable level to promote sustainable economic growth. JEL Classification: E61, E62, E63, H63, O4, O40

Suggested Citation

  • Chen Kong San & Lee Chin, 2023. "Impact of Public Debt on Economic Growth: A Quantile Regression Approach," South Asian Journal of Macroeconomics and Public Finance, , vol. 12(2), pages 250-278, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:smppub:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:250-278
    DOI: 10.1177/22779787231207218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/22779787231207218
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/22779787231207218?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    2. Niclas Berggren & Andreas Bergh & Christian Bjørnskov, 2015. "What matters for growth in Europe? Institutions versus policies, quality versus instability," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 69-88, January.
    3. Niclas Berggren & Andreas Bergh & Christian Bjørnskov, 2015. "What matters for growth in Europe? Institutions versus policies, quality versus instability," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 69-88, March.
    4. Wanjun Yao & Tomoko Kinugasa & Shigeyuki Hamori, 2013. "An empirical analysis of the relationship between economic development and population growth in China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(33), pages 4651-4661, November.
    5. Gilles Saint-Paul, 1992. "Fiscal Policy in an Endogenous Growth Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1243-1259.
    6. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    7. Hasan, Iftekhar & Wachtel, Paul & Zhou, Mingming, 2009. "Institutional development, financial deepening and economic growth: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 157-170, January.
    8. Mitze, Timo & Matz, Florian, 2015. "Public debt and growth in German federal states: What can Europe learn?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 208-228.
    9. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2010. "Growth in a Time of Debt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573-578, May.
    10. Jesus regstdpo-Cuaresma & Neil Foster & Robert Stehrer, 2011. "Determinants of Regional Economic Growth by Quantile," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(6), pages 809-826.
    11. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    12. Gómez-Puig, Marta & Sosvilla-Rivero, Simón, 2017. "Heterogeneity in the debt-growth nexus: Evidence from EMU countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 470-486.
    13. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    14. Adam, Christopher S. & Bevan, David L., 2005. "Fiscal deficits and growth in developing countries," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(4), pages 571-597, April.
    15. Wang, Kuan-Min, 2011. "Health care expenditure and economic growth: Quantile panel-type analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 1536-1549, July.
    16. António Afonso & João Jalles, 2016. "Economic performance, government size, and institutional quality," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 43(1), pages 83-109, February.
    17. Fumitaka Furuoka, 2013. "Population and economic development in Indonesia: A revisit with new data and methods," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 63(4), pages 451-467, December.
    18. Ahmad, Mahyudin & Hall, Stephen G., 2017. "Economic growth and convergence: Do institutional proximity and spillovers matter?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 1065-1085.
    19. Krugman, Paul, 1988. "Financing vs. forgiving a debt overhang," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 253-268, November.
    20. Jiang, Hai & Zhang, Jinyi & Sun, Chen, 2020. "How does capital buffer affect bank risk-taking? New evidence from China using quantile regression," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    21. Alex Coad & Rekha Rao, 2006. "Innovation and market value: a quantile regression analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 15(13), pages 1-10.
    22. Hefrizal Handra & Budi Kurniawan, 2020. "Long-run Relationship Between Government Debt and Growth: the Case of Indonesia," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(1), pages 96-100.
    23. Debi Prasad Bal & Badri Narayan Rath, 2014. "Public debt and economic growth in India: A reassessment," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 292-300.
    24. Behnam Nikbin & Saman Panahi, 2016. "Estimation of Private Consumption Function of Iran: Autoregressive Distributed Lag Approach to Co-integration," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 6(2), pages 653-659.
    25. David Powell, 2020. "Quantile Treatment Effects in the Presence of Covariates," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(5), pages 994-1005, December.
    26. Palaniaandy, Ayappan & Chin, Lee, 2018. "Intellectual Property Rights, Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 118780, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    27. Neil Foster, 2008. "The Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Economic Growth: Evidence from a Quantile Regression Analysis," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 543-567, November.
    28. Siew-Peng Lee & Yan-Ling Ng, 2015. "Public Debt and Economic Growth in Malaysia," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(1), pages 119-126.
    29. Law, Siong Hook & Ng, Chee Hung & Kutan, Ali M. & Law, Zhi Kei, 2021. "Public debt and economic growth in developing countries: Nonlinearity and threshold analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 26-40.
    30. Aviral Tiwari, 2013. "Taxation, Economic Growth and Political Stability," Transition Studies Review, Springer;Central Eastern European University Network (CEEUN), vol. 20(1), pages 49-61, April.
    31. Vighneswara Swamy, 2020. "Debt and growth: Decomposing the cause and effect relationship," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 141-156, April.
    32. Andreas Bergh & Martin Karlsson, 2010. "Government size and growth: Accounting for economic freedom and globalization," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 195-213, January.
    33. Junaid Khan & Muhammad Faizan Malik & Muhammad Ilyas, 2018. "Banking Sector Performance and Political Stability9apos9s Impact on Economic Growth in Pakistan," Global Economics Review, Humanity Only, vol. 3(1), pages 81-89, June.
    34. Ramzan, Muhammad & Ahmad, Eatzaz, 2014. "External debt growth nexus: Role of macroeconomic polices," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 204-210.
    35. Checherita-Westphal, Cristina & Rother, Philipp, 2012. "The impact of high government debt on economic growth and its channels: An empirical investigation for the euro area," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1392-1405.
    36. Panagiotis Pegkas, 2018. "The Effect of Government Debt and Other Determinants on Economic Growth: The Greek Experience," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-19, February.
    37. Fumitaka Furuoka, 2018. "Is population beneficial to economic growth? An empirical study of China," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 209-225, January.
    38. Siew-Peng Lee & Yan-Ling Ng, 2015. "Public Debt and Economic Growth in Malaysia," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(1), pages 119-126, January.
    39. Schclarek, Alfredo, 2004. "Debt and Economic Growth in Developing and Industrial Countries," Working Papers 2005:34, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    40. Lau, Chi Keung Marco & Demir, Ender & Bilgin, Mehmet Huseyin, 2013. "Experience-based corporate corruption and stock market volatility: Evidence from emerging markets," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 1-13.
    41. Dar, Atul A. & AmirKhalkhali, Sal, 2002. "Government size, factor accumulation, and economic growth: evidence from OECD countries," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 24(7-8), pages 679-692, November.
    42. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    43. Yolcu Karadam, Duygu, 2018. "An investigation of nonlinear effects of debt on growth," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 1-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. De Vita, Glauco & Trachanas, Emmanouil & Luo, Yun, 2018. "Revisiting the bi-directional causality between debt and growth: Evidence from linear and nonlinear tests," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 55-74.
    2. Ikonen, Pasi, 2017. "Financial depth, debt, and growth," Bank of Finland Scientific Monographs, Bank of Finland, volume 0, number e51, July.
    3. Andreas Bergh & Magnus Henrekson, 2011. "Government Size And Growth: A Survey And Interpretation Of The Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 872-897, December.
    4. Blessy Augustine & O.P.C. Muhammed Rafi, 2021. "Public Debt - Economic Growth: Evidence of a Non-linear Relationship," BASE University Working Papers 11/2021, BASE University, Bengaluru, India.
    5. Eberhardt, Markus & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2015. "Public debt and growth: Heterogeneity and non-linearity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 45-58.
    6. Panizza, Ugo & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2014. "Public debt and economic growth: Is there a causal effect?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 21-41.
    7. Iordanis Kalaitzoglou & Beatrice Durgheu, 2016. "Financial growth and Economic Growth in Europe : Is the Euro Beneficial for All Countries?," Post-Print hal-00859252, HAL.
    8. Attard, Juergen, 2019. "Public Debt and Economic Growth nexus: A Dynamic Panel ARDL approach," MPRA Paper 96023, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Nikolaos Antonakakis, 2014. "Sovereign Debt and Economic Growth Revisited: The Role of (Non-)Sustainable Debt Thresholds," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp187, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    10. Kassouri, Yacouba & Altıntaş, Halil & Alancioğlu, Erdal & Kacou, Kacou Yves Thierry, 2021. "New insights on the debt-growth nexus: A combination of the interactive fixed effects and panel threshold approach," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 40-55.
    11. İbrahim ÖZMEN, 2022. "New Evidence from Government Debt and Economic Growth in Core and Periphery European Union Countries : Asymmetric Panel Causality," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(3), pages 167-187, October.
    12. Chowdhury, Mohammad Ashraful Ferdous & Prince, Ehsanur Rauf & Shoyeb, Mohammad & Abdullah, Mohammad, 2024. "The threshold effect of institutional quality on sovereign debt and economic stability," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 39-59.
    13. Boukhatem, Jamel & Kaabi, Malèk, 2015. "Dette publique, qualité institutionnelle et croissance économique dans les pays de la région MENA : analyse par la méthode des moments généralisés [Public debt, institutional quality and economic g," MPRA Paper 65756, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Jul 2015.
    14. Escobari Diego & Mollick André Varella, 2013. "Output growth and unexpected government expenditures," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 481-513, September.
    15. Daniel Oto Peralías & Daniel Oto-Peralías & Diego Romero-Ávila, 2012. "Tracing the Link between Government Size and Growth: The Role of Public Sector Quality," EcoMod2012 4015, EcoMod.
    16. Hajamini, Mehdi & Falahi, Mohammad Ali, 2018. "Economic growth and government size in developed European countries: A panel threshold approach," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-13.
    17. Adom, Philip Kofi, 2016. "The DDT Effect: The case of Economic Growth, Public Debt and Democracy Relationship," MPRA Paper 75022, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 11 Nov 2016.
    18. Brian Tavonga Mazorodze, 2020. "Re-visiting the External Debt-Economic Growth Question in Zimbabwe," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 12(2), pages 1-8.
    19. Adewale Hassan & Daniel Meyer, 2021. "Exploring the Channels of Transmission between External Debt and Economic Growth: Evidence from Sub-Saharan African Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-16, April.
    20. Gopal Prasad Bhatta, PhD & Anu Mishra, 2020. "Estimating Optimum Growth-Maximizing Public Debt Threshold for Nepal," NRB Economic Review, Nepal Rastra Bank, Economic Research Department, vol. 32(2), pages 1-28, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Debt; economic growth; macroeconomic; quantile regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • O4 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:smppub:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:250-278. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.