Working Paper

Debt Statistics a la Carte : Alternative Recipes for Measuring Government Indebtedness


Abstract: In this note, we apply our same measurement techniques to the debts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal and show that plausible alternative measures of indebtedness suggest that Greece is anywhere from as much as 50% more indebted, to as little as half as indebted as either Portugal or Ireland. We argue that most reasonable measures imply that Greece is far less indebted than is commonly reported, and that indebtedness levels across these three economies are roughly similar.

https://doi.org/10.17016/2573-2129.12

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Bibliographic Information

Provider: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.)

Part of Series: IFDP Notes

Publication Date: 2015-11-17

Number: 2015-11-17

Order Number: 2015-11-17