A Guide to Sovereign Debt Data

September 13, 2019

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Format: Chicago

S. M. Ali Abbas, and Kenneth Rogoff. A Guide to Sovereign Debt Data, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2019) accessed December 26, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

The last decade or so has seen a mushrooming of new sovereign debt databases covering long time spans for several countries. This represents an important breakthrough for economists who have long sought to, but been unable to tackle, first-order questions such as why countries have differential debt tolerance, and how debt levels affect the scope for countercyclical policy in recessions and financial crises. This paper backdrops these recent data efforts, identifying both the key innovations, as well as caveats that users should be aware of. A Directory of existing publicly-available sovereign debt databases, featuring compilations by institutions and individual researchers, is also included.

Subject: Domestic debt, Emerging and frontier financial markets, External debt, Financial crises, Financial markets, Public debt

Keywords: Country, Debt, Debt data, Debt holder information, Debt maturity, Debt securities issuance, Debt structure, Domestic debt, Emerging and frontier financial markets, GDP data, GDP ratio, Global, Government, High-level government debt data, HIPC country, Holder information, Low-income country, State debt, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

21
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2019/195
Stock No:

WPIEA2019195
ISBN:

9781513511948
ISSN:

1018-5941

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