Why do people continue to use aggregate debt (including domestic bond debt and outstanding liabilities) to present GDP ratio as though it is a meaningful harbinger?
Any non-superficial analysis of what that entails and means should show you this is - while not entirely irrelevant - mostly meaningless as an indicator of economic health.
Well, you have to know at what interest rate the country borrows, and have an idea about the country's deficit and rate of GDP growth to know how sustainable the debt is, I suppose, but it's a pretty important number nevertheless...
Any non-superficial analysis of what that entails and means should show you this is - while not entirely irrelevant - mostly meaningless as an indicator of economic health.