here is widespread debate today concerning the level of debt relative to GDP that a country can safely carry. Recent orthodoxy placed that limit at 90% of GDP. However, the academic research that buttressed central bank-backed austerity measures has been placed in doubt because of errors related to data collection and analysis. In 2012, Israel public debt as a percentage of GDP stood at 74.0%. In comparison, the OECD average was 108.7%.