On the relationship between the debt ratio and debt maturity

The relationship between government debt and the maturity of government debt is analysed for eight OECD countries. It is found that the negative relationship between debt and effective maturity as reported by Missale and Blanchard (1994) for Ireland and Italy can also be found for some other countries with lower debt ratios. Furthermore, this negative relationship occurs only in periods when debt ratios rise. For Canada and the US, on the other hand, a positive relationship is found between debt and debt maturity.