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This accompanying document to the Guidelines for Public Debt Management, which the IMF and the World Bank co-published in 2001, contains sample case studies that illustrate how a range of countries from around the world and at different stages of economic and financial development are developing their debt management capacity in a manner consistent with the guidelines. The experience of these countries is discussed in this publication, and should offer some useful and practical suggestions to other countries, as they strive to build their own capacity in public debt management

Cover -- Contents -- I. Introduction -- II. Review Of Existing Datasets -- III. Methodological Considerations -- IV. Overview of the Global Debt Database -- V. Global Debt Trends -- VI. Conclusion And Way Forward -- BOXES -- 1. A Multidimensional Approach to Debt Statistics: The Example of Mexico -- A.1.1. Compilation of the Global Debt Database -- FIGURES -- 1. Private Debt Coverage in Approach 2 vs. IIP Approach -- 2. Country Coverage in the Global Debt Database -- 3. Country Coverage in the Global Debt Database -- 4. Private Debt: Country Coverage in Global Debt Database vs. Existing Datasets -- 5. Public Debt: Country Coverage in the Global Debt Database vs. Existing Datasets -- 6. Largest Debtors by Income Group, 2016 -- 7. Total Debt -- 8. Change in Public and Private Debt -- 9. Total Debt: World and G20 -- 10. Contribution to Total Debt by Income Group -- 11. Private Debt by Income Group -- 12. Public Debt by Income Group -- 13. Total Debt by Region -- 14. Private Debt by Region -- 15. Public Debt by Region -- A.1.1. Global Debt Database: Country Coverage -- TABLES -- 1. Comparison of Existing Debt Datasets -- 2. Selected Countries and Income Group: Total Debt -- A.1.1. Global Debt Database: Characteristics of Private Debt Data -- A.2.1. Classification by Income Group -- A.2.2. Classification by Region -- ANNEXES -- I. The Global Debt Database: Definitions, Methodology and Sources -- II. Country Classification

This volume presents a selection of contributions to the XXIV Villa Mondragone International Economic Seminar on "Public debt, global governance and economic dynamism". For the past 23 years, the Seminar has provided an ideal opportunity to meet and discuss the most topical issues in economic research. The quality of the scientific contributions and ensuing debates has consistently been outstanding owing to the participation of leading experts, and the most recent Seminar was no exception. The Seminar was held against the backdrop of high levels of public debt, especially in Europe, combined with very low growth in productivity. Furthermore, markets have been dominated by financial instability, raising the question of whether this is the result of the high debt levels or insufficient economic dynamism. Among the topics covered in this book are the economic challenges and growth policies in the United States; issues relating to the G20, global governance and regional integration; EU governance, growth and the Eurozone crisis; and EMU policy and public debt. Individual contributions also address the impact of labor market reforms, the need for sectoral rebalancing in the Euro area, fiscal multipliers and public debt dynamics, and the effects of fiscal shocks in Italy. The book concludes with a contribution on policy recommendations

A comprehensive survey of a new generation of independent fiscal institutions, established to promote transparency in public finances. The chapters, written by heads of the institutions, as well as distinguished policy analysts and academics, explore the rationale and experience of these fiscal watchdogs.

This paper studies the effect of sovereign debt restructurings with external private creditors on growth during the period 1970-2010. We find that there are bad and good (or not so bad) debt restructurings for growth. While growth generally declines in the aftermath of a sovereign debt restructuring, agreements that allow countries to exit a default spell (final restructurings) are associated with improving growth. The impact can be significant. In general, three years after restructuring, growth is about 5 percent lower compared to countries that did not face restructuring over the same period. The exception is for final restructurings, which result in positive growth in the years immediately after the restructuring. Final restructurings tend to be better for growth because they reduce countries' debt, with the strongest effect for countries that exit restructurings with relatively low debt levels

We use a controlled laboratory experiment with and without overlapping generations to study the emergence of public debt. Public debt is chosen by popular vote, pays for public goods, and is repaid with general taxes. With a single generation, public debt is accumulated prudently, never leading to over-indebtedness. With multiple generations, public debt is accumulated rapidly as soon as the burden of debt and the risk of over-indebtedness can be shifted to future generations. Debt ceiling mechanisms do not mitigate the debt problem. With overlapping generations, political debt cycles emerge, oscillating with the age of the majority of voters.