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Debt Sustainability Assessment: Mission Impossible

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  • Charles Wyplosz

Abstract

Debt sustainability is a vexing issue. Its importance is immediately obvious but it escapes any easy definition. This situation is not unheard of in economics; price stability and full employment are examples of other crucially important policy objectives that cannot be simply defined. Yet, while price stability or full employment can both be measured with a reasonable degree of precision, debt sustainability cannot even be measured directly.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles Wyplosz, 2011. "Debt Sustainability Assessment: Mission Impossible," Review of Economics and Institutions, Università di Perugia, vol. 2(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:pia:review:v:2:y:2011:i:3:n:1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Corsetti, Giancarlo & Erce, Aitor & Uy, Timothy, 2017. "Official Sector Lending Strategies during the Euro Area Crisis," CEPR Discussion Papers 12228, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Levy-Yeyati, Eduardo & Sturzenegger, Federico, 2007. "A Balance-Sheet Approach to Fiscal Sustainability," Working Paper Series rwp07-044, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    4. Oblath, Gábor & Halpern, László, 2014. "A gazdasági stagnálás "színe" és fonákja. Mivel jár együtt az exporttöbblet és az adósságcsökkenés? [The bright" and gloomy side of economic stagnation]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 757-800.
    5. Arnold Ivo J. M., 2023. "The Activation Conditions of the Transmission Protection Instrument: Flawed by Design?," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Sciendo, vol. 58(5), pages 254-259, September.
    6. Gregor Semieniuk & Emanuele Campiglio & Jean‐Francois Mercure & Ulrich Volz & Neil R. Edwards, 2021. "Low‐carbon transition risks for finance," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), January.
    7. Stiglitz, Joseph, 2021. "Lessons from COVID-19 and Trump for Theory and Policy (Paper)," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 749-760.
    8. Cyrus MUTUKU, 2015. "Assessing Fiscal Policy Cyclicality and Sustainability: A Fiscal Reaction Function for Kenya," Journal of Economics Library, KSP Journals, vol. 2(3), pages 173-191, September.
    9. Paret, Anne-Charlotte, 2017. "Debt sustainability in emerging market countries: Some policy guidelines from a fan-chart approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 26-45.
    10. Cui, Wei, 2017. "Macroeconomic effects of delayed capital liquidation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86156, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Federico Sturzenegger & Nicolás Der Meguerditchian, 2022. "A Balance-Sheet Model of Fiscal Policy in Namibia," Working Papers 136, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    12. Valeria De Bonis, 2023. "The debt to wealth ratio vs the debt to GDP ratio as an indicator of financial stability," Public Finance Research Papers 57, Istituto di Economia e Finanza, DSGE, Sapienza University of Rome.
    13. Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos & John Milios & Spyros Lapatsioras, 2014. "An Outline of a Progressive Resolution to the Euro-area Sovereign Debt Overhang: How a Five-year Suspension of the Debt Burden Could Overthrow Austerity," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_819, Levy Economics Institute.
    14. Eduardo Levy Yeyati & Federico Sturzenegger, 2023. "A balance‐sheet approach to fiscal sustainability," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 61-84, March.
    15. Ostry, Jonathan D. & Debrun, Xavier & Willems, Tim & Wyplosz, Charles, 2019. "Public Debt Sustainability," CEPR Discussion Papers 14010, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Aleksandar Zdravkovic & Aleksandra Bradic-Martinovic, 2012. "Public Debt Sustainability in Western Balkan Countries," Book Chapters, in: Paulino Teixeira & António Portugal Duarte & Srdjan Redzepagic & Dejan Eric (ed.), European Integration Process in Western Balkan Countries, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 24, pages 472-492, Institute of Economic Sciences.
    17. Mariusz Jarmuzek & Esteban R. Vesperoni, 2018. "The role of debt profile vulnerabilities in sovereign distress," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(13), pages 928-935, July.
    18. Maximilien Kaffo Melou & Mariusz A. Sumlinski & Chris Geiregat, 2014. "An Application of the "Fan-Chart Approach" to Debt Sustainability in Post-HIPC Low-Income Countries," IMF Working Papers 2014/102, International Monetary Fund.
    19. Canofari, Paolo & Marini, Giancarlo & Piergallini, Alessandro, 2020. "Financial Crisis and Sustainability of US Fiscal Deficit: Indicators or Tests?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 192-204.
    20. Canofari, Paolo & Piergallini, Alessandro & Piersanti, Giovanni, 2020. "The Fallacy Of Fiscal Discipline," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 55-68, January.
    21. Banegas Rivero, Roger Alejandro & Vergara González, Reyna, 2019. "Evaluación de escenarios fiscales para Bolivia," Revista Latinoamericana de Desarrollo Economico, Carrera de Economía de la Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB) "San Pablo", issue 32, pages 132-168, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    public debts; budget balance; sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E43 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Interest Rates: Determination, Term Structure, and Effects
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E37 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications

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