Does high public debt consistently stifle economic growth? A critique of Reinhart and Rogoff

"We replicate Reinhart and Rogoff (2010a and 2010b) and find that coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics lead to serious errors that inaccurately represent the relationship between public debt and GDP growth among 20 advanced eco...

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Main Authors: Herndon, Thomas, Ash, Michael, Pollin, Robert
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Amherst 2013
University of Massachusetts
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19397975124911151579-Does-high-public-debt-consiste.htm
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author Herndon, Thomas
Ash, Michael
Pollin, Robert
author_facet Herndon, Thomas
Ash, Michael
Pollin, Robert
collection Library items
description "We replicate Reinhart and Rogoff (2010a and 2010b) and find that coding errors, selective exclusion of available data, and unconventional weighting of summary statistics lead to serious errors that inaccurately represent the relationship between public debt and GDP growth among 20 advanced economies in the post-war period. Our finding is that when properly calculated, the average real GDP growth rate for countries carrying a public-debt-to-GDP ratio of over 90 percent is actually 2.2 percent, not −0.1 percent as published in Reinhart and Rogoff. That is, contrary to RR, average GDP growth at public debt/GDP ratios over 90 percent is not dramatically different than when debt/GDP ratios are lower. We also show how the relationship between public debt and GDP growth varies significantly by time period and country. Overall, the evidence we review contradicts Reinhart and Rogoff’s claim to have identified an important stylized fact, that public debt loads greater than 90 percent of GDP consistently reduce GDP growth."
format TEXT
id 19397975124911151579_d17f9bca69e94919885fdcc08dd87f03
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19397975124911151579_d17f9bca69e94919885fdcc08dd87f03
is_hierarchy_title Does high public debt consistently stifle economic growth? A critique of Reinhart and Rogoff
language English
physical 25 p.
Digital
publishDate 2013
publisher Amherst
University of Massachusetts
spellingShingle Herndon, Thomas
Ash, Michael
Pollin, Robert
economic growth
public debt
gross domestic product
economic analysis
Does high public debt consistently stifle economic growth? A critique of Reinhart and Rogoff
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=131863595904
title Does high public debt consistently stifle economic growth? A critique of Reinhart and Rogoff
topic economic growth
public debt
gross domestic product
economic analysis
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19397975124911151579-Does-high-public-debt-consiste.htm