The ‘other half’ of the public debt-economic growth relationship: A note on reinhart and rogoff

Dafermos, Yannis

Abstract

© 2015 Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. Reinhart/Rogoff (2010) and Reinhart et al. (2012) document a negative relationship between public debt and economic growth. However, by classifying the observations of their data set into public debt categories and identifying public debt overhang episodes, they focus only on ‘one half’ of the public debt-economic growth relationship: The growth-reducing effects of high public debt. This note classifies the observations of their data set into economic growth categories and identifies low-growth episodes. In so doing, it presents the ‘other half’ of the public debt-economic growth relationship: The debt-increasing effects of low growth. It is argued that the presentation of ‘both halves’ is essential for a more fruitful research agenda and policy debate.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Apr 15, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 31, 2016
• Journal: European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention
• Print ISSN: 2052-7764
• Electronic ISSN: 2052-7772
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 20-28
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/ejeep.2015.01.03
• Keywords: public debt, economic growth
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/836378
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/ejeep.2015.01.03
• Additional Information: Additional Information : © [Y. Dafermos, 2015]. The definitive, peer reviewed and edited version of this article is published in [European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, 12, 1, pp.20-28, 2015]
• Contract Date: Mar 2, 2016