Filling the Gap in Historical Statistics: Macroeconomic Indicators of the Debt Burden of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia During the Great Depression Cover Image

Filling the Gap in Historical Statistics: Macroeconomic Indicators of the Debt Burden of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia During the Great Depression
Filling the Gap in Historical Statistics: Macroeconomic Indicators of the Debt Burden of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia During the Great Depression

Author(s): Dragana Gnjatović
Subject(s): National Economy, Governance, Economic history, Political history, Economic policy, Political economy, Economic development, Interwar Period (1920 - 1939)
Published by: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino
Keywords: public debt; Great War; Great Depression; sovereign debt default; Kingdom of Yugoslavia;

Summary/Abstract: The following paper focuses on the specific causes of the sovereign debt default of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1932. In the first part of the paper, the time series of the public debt with the subcategories of domestic and foreign public debt for the period from 1929 to 1939 were constructed on the basis of data from the Statistical Yearbooks of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the League of Nations. In the second part of the paper, the sustainability of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia’s public debt has been measured with help of relevant macroeconomic indicators: public debt-to-GDP ratio and debt service-to-public revenue ratio. In the third part of the paper, the decomposition of public debt data has been carried out in accordance with the methodology used in the Statistical Yearbook of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. This decomposition has shown that public debt accumulation had to do little if anything with the Great Depression, and was to a large extent caused by the political, economic and financial consequences of the Great War.

  • Issue Year: 57/2017
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 51-73
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: English