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The Impact of Government Debt on Economic Growth: An Overview for Latin America

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  • Alejandro D. Jacobo
  • Ileana R. Jalile

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of government debt on GDP in 16 Latin American economies, namely Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela over a period of about fifty years (1960-2015). The short-run impact of debt on GDP growth is positive, but decreases to close to zero beyond public debt-to-GDP ratios between 64 and 71% (i.e. up to this threshold, additional debt has a stimulating impact on growth). The institutional variable selected shows the expected sign suggesting that countries with democratic governments exhibit higher growth rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Alejandro D. Jacobo & Ileana R. Jalile, 2017. "The Impact of Government Debt on Economic Growth: An Overview for Latin America," Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia, Finanza e Statistica 28/2017, Università di Perugia, Dipartimento Economia.
    • Handle: RePEc:pia:wpaper:0028/2017
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    Cited by:

    1. Lau, Evan & Moll de Alba, Jaime & Liew, Kim-Hing, 2022. "Debt and economic growth in Asian developing countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 599-612.
    2. Jos Mauricio Gil Le n & John William Rosso Murillo & Edgar Alonso Ramirez Hern ndez, 2019. "Public Debt and Stability in Economic Growth: Evidence for Latin America," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(4), pages 137-147.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Debt; growth;

    JEL classification:

    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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