Daunting Debt Dynamics

Top of Mind at Goldman Sachs

Government deficits, debt issuance and debt levels are set to surge as countries race to ease the economic impact of the coronacrisis. This raises many questions: who will finance this debt, will it force a market repricing and/or an eventual growth or inflation problem, and would greater use of negative rates help avoid any of these risks? At the same time, whether corporate bankruptcies could derail the economic recovery is a key concern. In short, how disruptive the recent, dramatic shift in debt dynamics might be is Top of Mind.

In this episode, Allison Nathan consults Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff, University of Pennsylvania’s David Skeel, and Goldman Sachs’ chief economist Jan Hatzius. Our key takeaways: the benefit of running large deficits today far outweighs any eventual costs; worries about distress in emerging markets and the Euro area are largely warranted; and a likely wave of corporate bankruptcies could prolong—but likely won’t derail—the economic recovery.

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