How high can public debt rise without compromising fiscal solvency? We answer this question using a stochastic ability-to-pay model of sovereign default in which risk-neutral investors lend to a government that displays "fiscal fatigue," because its ability to increase primary balances cannot...

In this note, the authors reexamine the issue of debt sustainability in a large group of advanced economies. Their hypothesis is that, when debt is in a moderate range, its dynamics are sustainable in the sense that increases in debt elicit sufficient increases in primary fiscal balances to...

Intro -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Overview -- I ADDRESSING FINANCIAL SECTOR WEAKNESSES -- 2 Current Issues Facing the Financial Sector -- 3 Banks and Credit in Japan -- II CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING AND STRUCTURAL REFORMS -- 4 The Resolution and Collection Corporation and the...