Recent Trends in Public and Private Debts: Cross Country Comparison

Eujin Lee ․ Soohyung Lee

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of government, household, and corporate debt across countries in response to the 2008 Great Recession and the extent to which these debts have been rebalanced. We examine 37 OECD countries from 2005 to 2019 classify them into 8 groups of countries that share comparable trends in debt evolution. We find that groups of countries show similar patterns of debt dynamics within each group, while the patterns are distinct across different groups. Policymakers may benefit from knowing who their peer countries are in terms of debt dynamics.

Keywords

Public debt․Government debt․Household debt․Private debt․Recessions

3.Eujin Lee Soohyung Lee