How might the UK's Debt-GDP ratio be reduced? Evidence from the last 120 years

Michael R. Wickens

No 17172, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: The motivation for this paper is concerns in the UK with how to bring down the currently high level of the debt-GDP ratio. We consider whether anything can be learned from previous experience over the last 120 years by examining the contributions both to the increase in the debt-GDP ratio and to the reduction of the debt-GDP ratio of various components of the government budget constraint: the primary deficit, growth, inflation and interest rates and payments. We also examine the effectiveness of policy in influencing these components. We conclude by suggesting a combination of these components that might be economically and politically achievable.

Keywords: Debt-gdp ratio; Primary deficit; Growth; Inflation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E62 H63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022-04
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP17172 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:17172

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP17172

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().