What lessons can we learn from 200 years of public debt?

Apr 4, 2019

Debt has a long and varied history. Image: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

Barry Eichengreen

Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

Asmaa El-Ganainy

Deputy Division Chief, Institute for Capacity Development (European and Middle Eastern Division), IMF

Rui Esteves

Associate Professor of International History, Graduate Institute Geneva

Kris James Mitchener

Professor, Santa Clara University

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Notes: countries in default refers to the number of independent nations in default in a given year over the total number of independent nations. Incidence refers to the unconditional probability of new defaults p. a. Image: Reinhart and Rogoff (2009) and authors’ calculations

Notes: G-20 advanced countries included are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.K. and the U.S. Image: Abbas et al. (2014a)

Notes: G20 advanced economies included are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. PPP-GDP weighted averages. Image: Abbas et al. (2014b)

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