Introduction -- Sustainable Public Debt: Theory and Empirical Evidence -- Debt and Growth: A Basic Endogenous Growth Model -- Productive Government Spending, Public Debt and Growth -- Government Debt and Human Capital Formation -- Debt and Growth: Empirical Evidence -- Conclusion.

Starting point of this book is the observation that an increase in public debt must be accompanied by a rise in the primary surplus of the government to guarantee sustainability of public debt. The book first elaborates on that principle from a theoretical point of view and then tests whether...