Threshold and Spectral Analysis of the Relationship between Government Debt to Banking System and Economic Growth in Iran

The unfavorable state of economic growth and government debt to the banking system are two major challenges for the Iran's economy. Given the importance of these variables in the macroeconomics, the study of the relationship between them using modern econometric methods can provide useful implications for policymakers. Therefore, the present study, with the application of the threshold vector autoregressive and spectral Analysis approaches during the period 1353-1395 reveals new evidence of the relationship between these two variables. The results show that government debt to the banking system has a dual and nonlinear effect on the economic growth. On the other words, if the ratio of debt to production is less than 18.2%, it has a positive effect on economic growth. Through crossing the estimated threshold, its destructive effect appears on economic growth. The impact of bank debt on economic growth is also non-linear and inverse. In addition, in the short and medium run, there is a causal relationship between these two variables. But, in the long run, the causality relationship from economic growth to government debt.