Wednesday
Mostly summarized from Gregory Mankiw’s Principles of Economics, 5th Ed. PART 9 The Real Economy in the Long Run Chapter 26 of 36 Saving, Investment, and the Financial System Section 23 of 24 … Figure 5 – The U.S. Government Debt The U.S. federal government debt, shown here as a percentage of GDP, has varied throughout history. Figure 5 shows the U.S. federal government debt since 1790 as a percentage of U.S. GDP. The debt/GDP ratio has ranged from zero in 1836 to 107% in 1945. Since the 1960s the ratio has mostly been between 30% and 40%. … The primary cause of fluctuations in government debt is the huge expense of defense. There are main two reasons debt financing of defense is considered an appropriate policy. Debt financing of wars allows the government to keep tax rates level over time. Without debt financing, tax rates would have to rise during wars causing a substantial decrease in economic efficiency. Debt financing of defense shifts part of the cost of wars to future gen...