Studie zur weltweiten Staatsverschuldung 2011

With this study the Credit Suisse Research Institute provides new insights into one of the most crucial issues in the world economy today – country indebtedness. Since World War II, the debt-to-GDP ratio of major industrial countries has exhibited a broad U-shape, with a long decline (helped by robust growth and interest rates often below inflation) followed by more than three decades of increase from the late 1970s, likely to take the average ratio over 100% soon. In many countries, this has been accompanied by rising private debt burdens. The longevity of this unsustainable trend, long predating the financial crisis, suggests that to understand its causes and ultimate cure, we must look to deep faultlines in economic and political processes.