War and peace: Explosive U.S. public debt, 1791–2009

Gawon Yoon

Economics Letters, 2012, vol. 115, issue 1, 1-3

Abstract: We show, in this study, that the U.S. public debt–GDP ratio was explosive in nature during the 1791–2009 sample period. The huge increase in U.S. debt during World War II is responsible for this result. Our findings differ profoundly from those generated by the standard unit root tests, which typically conclude that the U.S. public debt had a unit root.

Keywords: Public debt; Sustainability; Recursive unit root test; Explosiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C22 H62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:115:y:2012:i:1:p:1-3

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2011.11.020

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