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How Government Debt Accumulates

By: Dante Roscini and Jonathan Schlefer
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:6
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Abstract

This note discusses the economics of government-debt accumulation. Fiscal deficits are only part of the picture; other factors include the level of debt as a percent of nominal GDP; the interest rate; the inflation rate; the growth rate; and changes in the exchange rate if some debt is owed in a foreign currency. The note discusses how these factors interact to affect government debt levels.

Keywords

Government and Politics; Borrowing and Debt

Citation

Roscini, Dante, and Jonathan Schlefer. "How Government Debt Accumulates." Harvard Business School Background Note 711-087, April 2011. (Revised February 2013.)

About The Author

Dante Roscini

Business, Government and the International Economy
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