This Time They’re Different: Heterogeneity and Nonlinearity in the Relationship between Debt and Growth

We study the long-run relationship between public debt and growth in a large panel of countries. Our analysis takes particular note of theoretical arguments and data considerations in modelling the debt-growth relationship as heterogeneous across countries. We investigate the issue of nonlinearities (‘debt thresholds’) in both the cross- and within-country dimensions, employing novel approaches and diagnostics from the time-series literature adapted for use in the panel. Our findings suggest that whatever the shape and form of the debt-growth relationship, it differs across countries, so that appropriate policies for one country may be seriously misguided in another.