Lowry, Ralph. “Q&A: Gross Debt versus Debt Held by the Public.” Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, https://www.crfb.org/papers/qa-gross-debt-versus-debt-held-public.
Direct Quote: Most economists regard debt held by the public – particularly as a share of GDP – as the most economically meaningful measure of debt. Debt held by the public measures the amount of U.S. debt held by entities other than the federal government and traded publicly. It is thus relevant for understanding the extent to which debt is providing fiscal stimulus, crowding out private investment, influencing interest rates, and consuming fiscal space.
Summary/My Interpretation: The best measure that a person can use to evaluate the extent to which the debt is affecting the economy is the amount of debt held by the public. In general, this type of debt is responsible for stifling economic growth through crowding out the private sector and causing interest rates to increase.
How I Plan To Use This In My Project: Overall, I hope to use this article as a way to give more credibility to my means of measurement. Specifically, I plan to analyze the amount of debt held by the public and focus on that figure more heavily than other types of debt that the government may hold. Furthermore, the article provides the underlying reason as to why the US debt crisis is expected to become more dire in the future.
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