National Debt Quiz

Question 1An illustrative government has debt of $720 billion and annual GDP of $960 billion. Find debt as a percentage of GDP, rounded to one decimal place.

Enter a number in %.

Answers within 0.05 % of the expected value are accepted.

Question 2For one year, $240 million of debt bears a fixed annual interest rate of 3%. Find that year’s interest in millions of dollars, rounded to two decimals.

Enter a number in million dollars.

Answers within 0.005 million dollars of the expected value are accepted.

Question 3Debt begins a year at $410 billion. The annual overall deficit is $28 billion, with no other debt adjustments. Find year-end debt in billions of dollars, rounded to one decimal place.

Enter a number in billion dollars.

Answers within 0.05 billion dollars of the expected value are accepted.

Question 4Two debt reports cover different institutions, yet compare their headline totals as if coverage matched. What should a reader check?

The exclusion of domestic lenders to obtain total public debtThe addition of GDP to convert a narrow total into broader debtThe removal of long-term bonds because they are not due this yearThe public bodies and obligations included in each total

Question 5A government trust fund holds securities issued by another part of the same government. How are these holdings classified?

Intragovernmental debt held within government accountsForeign debt because a separate account owns the securitiesPrivate household debt passed through a public agencyPublicly held debt because taxpayers fund the trust account

Question 6A legislature evaluates borrowing for a project. Which comparison addresses the economic trade-off?

The value delivered by the investment relative to its borrowing costThe net gain created by receiving the borrowed cashThe project’s entire resource cost equal to one annual couponThe interest bill representing the treasury’s future repayment needs

Question 7In a commentary, the writer divides debt by population and calls the result a bill due from each resident. Which correction applies?

The per-person amount becomes a tax bill when compared with wagesDividing by population creates an equal personal obligationBonds held by private domestic pension funds cancel the public debtA public financing obligation is different from a personal invoice

Question 8A treasury uses the proceeds of a bond sale to pay off an equal amount of existing debt. What has happened?

The principal repayment has purchased another year of public servicesThe total amount owed is unchanged by this financing transactionThe refinancing has removed the government’s future interest costsThe transaction has turned outstanding debt into tax revenue

Question 9Interest rates rise, but much of the outstanding debt has fixed rates and long maturities. What determines when costs change?

The immediate repricing of each existing fixed-rate couponThe dates of maturities and the cost of replacement borrowingThe next annual budget date repricing existing fixed-rate bondsThe average age of outstanding bonds setting a common repricing date

Question 10A report compares the government’s total outstanding obligations with its spending gap this year. What distinction is needed?

The former is an interest rate; the latter is a stock of assetsThe former measures imports; the latter measures domestic borrowingThe former is a stock at a date; the latter is a flow over timeThe former expires yearly; the latter accumulates across decades

Answer every question to see and share your score.

National Debt Quiz

How does it work?

What will you get?