Published: August 13, 2011

MARKETS IN TURMOIL

The Making of a Debt Spiral

DEBT spirals: the term sounds ominous. As it should — these market vortexes are posing grave dangers to the global economy right now. A national debt crisis is a bank run writ large, says Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard and co-author with Carmen M. Reinhart of “This Time Is Different,” a history of financial crises. When a country like Greece goes deep into debt, bond investors start to worry they won’t get their money back. What can happen next is a debt spiral, a vicious circle of sinking confidence, rising borrowing costs and, ultimately, rising debt burdens. — DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN Related Article »

Graphic by Guilbert Gates for The New York Times