Question #2168

While continuous national governments deficits are possible if the non-government sector desires to save overall, they do imply continuously rising public debt levels under current institutional arrangements.

Answer #10883

Answer: True

Explanation

The answer is True.

The trap was to confuse levels with ratios. If I had have asked whether the public debt ratio (as a per cent of GDP) continuously rose with on-going national deficits, then the answer would be false.

That is because the debt levels might not rise more quickly than the denominator (GDP).

But if there is an institutional arrangement in place to match fiscal deficits each period with new debt issuance then it is a trivial response - True.

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