## Public Debt Through the Ages

_IMF Working Papers, January 15, 2019_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Public Debt Through the Ages](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2019/01/15/public-debt-through-the-ages-46503)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2019/01/15/public-debt-through-the-ages-46503/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2019/01/15/public-debt-through-the-ages-46503/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/wp/issues/2019/01/15/public-debt-through-the-ages-46503/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- 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

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### Executive summary
- 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.

### Major findings
- 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:
  - wars,
  - depressions,
  - financial crises.
- Common debt-management responses to unsustainable debt episodes included:
  - debasements,
  - restructurings.
- 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.

### Subjects and keywords (as listed)
- 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

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## Content in this bundle

- **Public Debt Through the Ages, WP/19/6, January 2019**
  - [Public Debt Through the Ages, WP/19/6, January 2019 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/wp/2019/wp1906.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"}
  - [Public Debt Through the Ages, WP/19/6, January 2019 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/wp/2019/wp1906.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2019/01/15/public-debt-through-the-ages-46503_