The Relationship Between Debt and Growth

The debt-growth nexus has received renewed interest among academics and policy makers alike in the aftermath of the recent global financial crisis and the subsequent euro area sovereign debt crisis. Discuss whether there exists a tipping point, for public indebtedness, beyond which economic growth drops off significantly; and more generally, whether a build-up of public debt slows down the economy in the long run.

This essay explores the effects of debt on growth, by first examining the theoretical mechanisms that high debt can lead to lower growth before examining some of the empirical literature to see whether we observe such a relationship. [...]

The Expansionary Fiscal Contraction Hypothesis

Read this essay (http://www.econ.aueb.gr/en/uploadfiles/AllRP092012.pdf) about the theory of expansionary fiscal contraction. In a nutshell the theory proposes that austerity (fiscal contraction) can lead to economic growth as consumers might anticipate smaller taxes tomorrow, and hence increase their spending today, thus boosting the economy. It also proposes that austerity would reduce the effects of crowding out, but this point is only really relevant when the economy is at full-employment, and so can be ignored regarding the current situation we are in.

The introduction of the essay is extremely good at explaining this point.

UPDATE: A follow-up of this issue is available to read here. [...]