Monday, March 26, 2018

Other ways to approximate Total PNF Debt

Total credit to the "Private Nonfinancial Sector" is shown in blue on the graph. It is mostly hidden by the red and black lines.

Graph #1: Total Private NonFinancial Debt (blue)
Domestic NonFinancial less Federal, State, and Local Government (red)
Household Debt plus NonFinancial Business Debt (black)
If I start with total credit to "Domestic Nonfinancial Sectors" and subtract the credit market debt of Federal, State, and Local governments, I get something very close to "Total Credit to Private Non-financial sector": the red line.

If instead I start with Household debt and add to it the debt of Nonfinancial Corporate and Nonfinancial Noncorporate Business, I end up again with something very close to "Total Credit to Private Non-financial sector": the black line.

Easy enough to see that the lines on the graph all move together. Harder to really see what lines are on the graph. You can click the graph to see it bigger. Better, click the "Graph #1" label to see the graph at FRED.