IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/125712.html

Maastricht Criteria and Public Debt

Author

Listed:
  • Vintu, Denis

Abstract

The Maastricht Criteria, also known as the convergence criteria, are a set of economic and fiscal requirements established by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 to ensure that European Union (EU) member states maintain economic stability and are prepared for participation in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and adoption of the euro. Among these criteria, public debt plays a crucial role in maintaining fiscal discipline and preventing excessive government borrowing that could undermine economic stability. Specifically, the Maastricht Criteria set a limit on public debt at no more than 60\% of a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), alongside a fiscal deficit ceiling of 3\% of GDP. These thresholds aim to promote sustainable public finances, reduce the risk of debt crises, and foster confidence among member states and investors. Understanding the criteria related to public debt is essential in assessing the fiscal health and convergence readiness of countries within the EU framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Vintu, Denis, 2025. "Maastricht Criteria and Public Debt," MPRA Paper 125712, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Aug 2025.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:125712
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/125712/1/MPRA_paper_125712.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:ecpoli:v:21:y:2006:i:46:p:207-261 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Willem H. Buiter & Clemens Grafe, 2004. "Patching up the Pact," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 12(1), pages 67-102, March.
    3. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2010. "Growth in a Time of Debt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573-578, May.
    4. Baum, Anja & Checherita-Westphal, Cristina & Rother, Philipp, 2013. "Debt and growth: New evidence for the euro area," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 809-821.
    5. Charles Wyplosz, 2006. "European Monetary Union: the dark sides of a major success [‘The macroeconomics of low inflation’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 21(46), pages 208-261.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. António Afonso & José Alves, 2017. "Stock-Flow Adjustments and Interest Rates," Working Papers Department of Economics 2017/05, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    2. Antonio Afonso & Jose Alves, 2015. "The Role of Government Debt in Economic Growth," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 215(4), pages 9-26, December.
    3. Rebeca Jimenez-Rodriguez & Araceli Rodríguez-López, 2015. "What happens to the relationship between public debt and economic growth in European countries?," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 151-160.
    4. Mitze, Timo & Matz, Florian, 2015. "Public debt and growth in German federal states: What can Europe learn?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 208-228.
    5. Yannis Dafermos, 2015. "The ‘other half’ of the public debt–economic growth relationship: a note on Reinhart and Rogoff," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 12(1), pages 20-28, April.
    6. De Vita, Glauco & Trachanas, Emmanouil & Luo, Yun, 2018. "Revisiting the bi-directional causality between debt and growth: Evidence from linear and nonlinear tests," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 55-74.
    7. Combes, Jean-Louis & Minea, Alexandru & Sow, Moussé, 2017. "Is fiscal policy always counter- (pro-) cyclical? The role of public debt and fiscal rules," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 138-146.
    8. Falilou Fall & Debra Bloch & Jean-Marc Fournier & Peter Hoeller, 2015. "Prudent debt targets and fiscal frameworks," OECD Economic Policy Papers 15, OECD Publishing.
    9. Leila Ben Ltaief, 2014. "Dette publique et croissance économique : investigation empirique pour la zone euro, l’Union européenne et les pays avancés," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 90(2), pages 79-103.
    10. Siti Nurazira Mohd Daud & Jan M. Podivinsky, 2015. "Federal government debt and economic growth: Evidence from Malaysia," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 15(3), pages 253-256, July.
    11. 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.
    12. Lof, Matthijs & Malinen, Tuomas, 2014. "Does sovereign debt weaken economic growth? A panel VAR analysis," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 403-407.
    13. Markus Ahlborn & Rainer Schweickert, 2018. "Public debt and economic growth – economic systems matter," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 373-403, April.
    14. Gan-Ochir Doojav & Munkhbayar Baatarkhuu, 2024. "Public debt and growth in Asian developing economies: evidence of non-linearity and geographical heterogeneity," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(2), pages 421-452, June.
    15. Zhou Ming Matt & Wang Man Cang, 2019. "Predictive Analysis of Fiscal Crises with Deep Learning Time Series Model," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(5), pages 1-21, May.
    16. Dreger, Christian & Reimers, Hans-Eggert, 2013. "Does euro area membership affect the relation between GDP growth and public debt?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PB), pages 481-486.
    17. Balẳ Égert, 2015. "The 90% public debt threshold: the rise and fall of a stylized fact," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(34-35), pages 3756-3770, July.
    18. 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.
    19. Westerhout, Ed, 2022. "30 Years of Generational Accounting : A Critical Review," Discussion Paper 2022-021, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • F45 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Macroeconomic Issues of Monetary Unions
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • H68 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Forecasts of Budgets, Deficits, and Debt
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:125712. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.