Brian Duignan is a senior editor at Encyclopædia Britannica. His subject areas include philosophy, law, social science, politics, political theory, and religion.
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debt ceiling, statutory or constitutionally mandated upper limit on the total outstanding public debt of a country, state, or municipality, usually expressed as an absolute sum.
National debt ceilings have been established in some countries in the belief that excessive public debt, which requires large service (i.e. interest payments, reduces available funding for many government programs and activities, ties up money (in the form of government securities) that could be productively invested in the private sector, limits the governmentâs ability to stimulate economic activity by lowering taxes, and effectively transfers wealth from less-affluent groups (the majority of taxpayers) to more-affluent groups (private holders of government securities).
The United States established its first bond-debt ceiling, $11.5 billion, in 1917 and its first aggregate debt ceiling, $45 billion, in 1939. During most of the period since the early 1960s, federal budget deficits have steadily increased, requiring more than 70 adjustments in the ceiling to continue financing government operations and to avoid default on the national debt, which could lead to a financial crisis. Some critics of the U.S. debt ceiling have claimed that it is ineffective; defenders have argued that it imposes a measure of fiscal restraint by forcing political leaders to take responsibility for deficit spending whenever the ceiling is raised.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Brian Duignan
