I have found on a newspaper the data for public debt increase, GDP growth, and industrial production growth for EMU (European Monetary Union) countries for the 2005-2011 period. Mind these come straight from the EU but they are very, very interesting nonetheless.
| Country | Debt Growth in % | GDP Growth in % | Industrial Production Growth in % |
|---|---|---|---|
Austria |
+9.9 | +10.1 | +9.4 |
| Belgium | +4.8 | +8.6 | +14.2 |
| Estonia | +1.5 | +4.5 | +2.0 |
| Finland | +8.8 | +9.0 | +1.4 |
| France | +18.3 | +5.6 | -7.8 |
| Germany | +14.4 | +8.6 | +4.2 |
| Greece | +57.4 | 0.0 | -16.1 |
| Ireland | +84.7 | -1.2 | +9.3 |
| Italy | +14.3 | -1.0 | -11.4 |
| Luxembourg | +11.2 | +17.2 | -10.1 |
| Netherlands, The | +12.1 | +9.1 | +4.4 |
| Portugal | +39.0 | +0.4 | -7.8 |
| Slovakia | +10.7 | +30.1 | +43.3 |
| Slovenia | +16.0 | +11.2 | +2.4 |
| Spain | +25.1 | +5.3 | -16.6 |
Bear in mind in many cases debt from “local governments” (towns, provinces etc) is not included in the overall debt figure.
The most interesting thing is industrial production growth. Countries with high capitalization per worker (Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Austria) have fared well. Countries with low capitalization per worker (Italy, Greece, Spain, France, Portugal) have fared poorly. Slovakia is a particular case: it’s more or less becoming “Europe’s factory” due to low labor costs, favorable legislation and taxation and a reasonably skilled workforce.
Public debt growth should really be broken down in pre 2008 and post 2008. After 2008 debts have more ore less exploded due to the “need to pump money into the economy”. Still it’s pretty impressive seeing Germany having about the same growth as Italy though, to be completely honest, Italian “local debt” is not included in the grand total and it’s extremely difficult to calculate. By contrast Swiss public debt actually decreased by about 1% over the same period. Not impressive by Austrian standards but damn impressive given the general environment.