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.

Public debt has become a severe problem for a great many economies. While the effects of tax policies on the allocation of resources are readily derived, the mechanisms that make public deficits and debt influence the economy are not so easily understood. This book elaborates on the effects of...

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...