Amalia Estenssoro is a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The debt-to-GDP ratio shows signs of stabilization in advanced economies, but less so in emerging economies.
The rapidly mounting debts of the governments of Greece and other European countries caught policymakers off guard earlier this year and caused a panic in the markets. But a review of who holds the debt of these countries shows that any contagion risk should be confined to Europe.
