{
  "title": "Public Debt Through the Ages",
  "publication": "IMF Working Papers, January 15, 2019",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2019/01/15/public-debt-through-the-ages-46503",
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  "summary": "We consider public debt from a long-term historical perspective, showing how the purposes for which governments borrow have evolved over time. Periods when debt-to-GDP ratios rose explosively as a result of wars, depressions and financial crises also have a long history.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Executive summary",
      "content": "- Presents a long-term historical perspective on public debt, documenting how the purposes for which governments borrow have evolved over time.\n- Identifies periods when debt-to-GDP ratios rose explosively as a result of wars, depressions, and financial crises.\n- Documents that many high-debt episodes were resolved through debasements and restructurings.\n- Highlights less widely appreciated successful debt consolidation episodes in which governments inheriting heavy debts ran primary surpluses for long periods to reduce debt burdens to sustainable levels.\n- Analyzes the economic and political circumstances that made successful debt consolidation episodes possible."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Major findings",
      "content": "- Purposes of government borrowing have changed materially over long historical horizons.\n- Explosive rises in debt-to-GDP are recurrent across history and commonly associated with:\n  - wars,\n  - depressions,\n  - financial crises.\n- Common debt-management responses to unsustainable debt episodes included:\n  - debasements,\n  - restructurings.\n- Successful debt consolidation episodes typically involved sustained primary surpluses maintained over long periods by governments that inherited heavy debts.\n- Political and economic factors were key determinants of whether a country pursued and achieved consolidation."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Subjects and keywords (as listed)",
      "content": "- Subject: Asset and liability management, Banking, Debt reduction, Domestic debt, External debt, Financial crises, Public debt\n- Keywords: debt, Debt History, debt ratio, Debt reduction, Domestic debt, Europe, Global, gold standard, government, Great Depression debt surge, long-term debt, modernization agenda, public goods, short-term debt, Sovereign Debt Composition, Soveriegn Debt, Soveriegn Debt Crises, union government financing, WP\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Public Debt Through the Ages, WP/19/6, January 2019\n  - Public Debt Through the Ages, WP/19/6, January 2019 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Public Debt Through the Ages, WP/19/6, January 2019 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2019/01/15/public-debt-through-the-ages-46503"
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    "Authors: Barry J. Eichengreen, Asmaa A ElGanainy, Rui Pedro Esteves, Kris James Mitchener",
    "Published: January 15, 2019",
    "Series: IMF Working Papers",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484392898.001",
    "Presents a long-term historical perspective on public debt, documenting how the purposes for which governments borrow have evolved over time.",
    "Identifies periods when debt-to-GDP ratios rose explosively as a result of wars, depressions, and financial crises.",
    "Documents that many high-debt episodes were resolved through debasements and restructurings.",
    "Highlights less widely appreciated successful debt consolidation episodes in which governments inheriting heavy debts ran primary surpluses for long periods to reduce debt burdens to sustainable levels.",
    "Analyzes the economic and political circumstances that made successful debt consolidation episodes possible.",
    "Purposes of government borrowing have changed materially over long historical horizons.",
    "Explosive rises in debt-to-GDP are recurrent across history and commonly associated with:",
    "Common debt-management responses to unsustainable debt episodes included:",
    "Successful debt consolidation episodes typically involved sustained primary surpluses maintained over long periods by governments that inherited heavy debts.",
    "Political and economic factors were key determinants of whether a country pursued and achieved consolidation.",
    "Subject: Asset and liability management, Banking, Debt reduction, Domestic debt, External debt, Financial crises, Public debt",
    "Keywords: debt, Debt History, debt ratio, Debt reduction, Domestic debt, Europe, Global, gold standard, government, Great Depression debt surge, long-term debt, modernization agenda, public goods, short-term debt, Sovereign Debt Composition, Soveriegn Debt, Soveriegn Debt Crises, union government financing, WP",
    "**Public Debt Through the Ages, WP/19/6, January 2019**"
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