public debt-to-GDP ratio - 2025 Penn Bowl

Question

Herndon, Ash, and Pollin criticized an influential paper about the relationship between this quantity and growth for selective data inclusion and errors in weighting and Microsoft Excel. For 10 points each:

[10h] Name this quantity. A 2010 paper by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff posited a critical “threshold” of 0.9 for this quantity, beyond which growth slows significantly.

ANSWER: public debt-to-GDP ratio [prompt on debt]

[10e] Despite those errors, the Reinhart-Rogoff paper was widely cited in support of this kind of policy. This type of policy, common in recessions, involves cutting government spending or increasing taxes.

ANSWER: austerity [or contractionary fiscal policy; or fiscal consolidation]

[10m] A 2012 IMF report found austerity is usually more contractionary than predicted due to underestimating the “fiscal” version of this quantity, which is the ratio of a change in output to a change in government spending.

ANSWER: multiplier [accept fiscal multiplier]

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Summary


2025 Penn Bowl - BU	11/01/25	Y	4	10.00	75%	25%	0%
2025 Penn Bowl - CWRU	11/01/25	Y	3	10.00	67%	33%	0%
2025 Penn Bowl - Mainsite (UPenn)	11/01/25	Y	6	13.33	100%	17%	17%
2025 Penn Bowl - Murray State	11/08/25	Y	2	5.00	50%	0%	0%
2025 Penn Bowl - Northwestern	10/25/25	Y	4	12.50	75%	50%	0%
2025 Penn Bowl - Online	11/08/25	Y	2	25.00	100%	100%	50%
2025 Penn Bowl - Ottawa	11/01/25	Y	7	12.86	86%	29%	14%
2025 Penn Bowl - Stanford	10/25/25	Y	4	15.00	75%	50%	25%
2025 Penn Bowl - UK	11/01/25	Y	9	13.33	100%	22%	11%
2025 Penn Bowl - UNC	11/01/25	Y	3	10.00	67%	33%	0%
2025 Penn Bowl - WashU	11/01/25	Y	2	20.00	100%	50%	50%

Data


Brandeis	Harvard	0	10	0	10
MIT A	Brown	0	10	0	10
I've been running into you in my lead plumbocene what could have benzene	RIT	0	10	0	10
MIT B	Yale	0	0	10	10
CWRU	Michigan C	0	10	0	10
Ohio State B	Michigan B	0	0	0	0
Pittsburgh	Michigan A	0	10	10	20
JHU A	Maryland B	0	10	0	10
Maryland C	JHU B	0	10	0	10
Maryland A	Mount Sinai	0	10	0	10
John Jay	NYU A	10	10	10	30
Columbia A	NYU B	0	10	0	10
Swarthmore	Columbia B	0	10	0	10
Oklahoma	Central Oklahoma	0	10	0	10
Texas A	Texas B	0	0	0	0
Wake Up Paddington A Washington Mystery	abg academy	0	10	10	20
rusty shackleford	New Young Whigs of America	10	10	10	30
Northwestern A	UChicago C	0	10	10	20
Northwestern B	Indiana	0	10	10	20
UChicago A	Purdue A	0	10	0	10
UChicago B	Purdue B	0	0	0	0
Toronto G	#OpenToBuzz	0	10	10	20
McGill B	Carleton A	0	10	0	10
Aweille Kevin Fan osti continue comme ça	McGill Fartlets	10	10	0	20
Waterloo you are crooked	Ottawa 67s	0	10	0	10
Queen's is monitoring the situation	Guelph perfomative male competition	0	0	10	10
Toronto Operation PBSuccess	Toronto Murder on the Rider Express	0	10	0	10
Toronto Sunshine Bubbles	Toronto E	0	10	0	10
Berkeley A	Berkeley C	0	10	10	20
Berkeley B	Stanford A	0	10	0	10
The best time to buzz was twenty clues ago. The second best time to buzz is now	Free Win	0	0	0	0
In Search of Lost Clues	Stanford B	10	10	10	30
Alas poor Warwick, I knew him Edinburgh	Burnaburiash's Lapis Lazuli	0	10	0	10
Coughing Baby	question mark	0	10	0	10
Penn and the Art of Tossup-Bonus cycle Maintenance	Galactic Ombudsmen	0	10	0	10
why is it called a score clue if nobody scores points on it	Hail to the Sheaf	0	10	0	10
Bristold	Knorr Stock Clue	0	10	0	10
The Bit and the Penndulum	Of Mice and Penn	0	10	0	10
To buzz is to be perceived	1. Wawa 2. Blank Street 151. Black Sheep at Kings Cross rail	10	10	10	30
Washed Scrubs	Quiztian Bale in Ratman Begins	0	10	10	20
VT B	Planck Sinatra	0	0	0	0
Wise Duke	UNC B	0	10	0	10
WashU Bouba	Truman State	0	10	0	10
WashU Kiki	VJ Edgecombe School of Interior Design - Edwardsville	10	10	10	30
VT A	UNC A	0	10	10	20