Fiscal Policy and Public Debt

Author(s):  
Christopher Tsoukis

This chapter looks at fiscal policy, broadly interpreted to include its implications on deficits, debt, and fiscal solvency. It is informally divided in two parts, starting from the latter set of issues. After introducing the budget deficit, debt and the government budget constraint, and related issues, it proceeds to analyse fiscal solvency, deriving formal conditions and discussing extensively indicators and required policy rules. The role of growth in ensuring fiscal solvency is put in sharp relief. Additionally, the ‘dilemma of austerity’ is critically discussed, i.e. whether ‘fiscal consolidations’ can in fact damage public finances by being recessionary. We then turn to the effects of fiscal policy on economic activity: A ‘toolkit’ of static fiscal multipliers is discussed, as is the intertemporal approach to fiscal policy (including Ricardian Equivalence), complemented by empirical evidence.

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (246) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Fotiou

Empirical evidence shows that fiscal multipliers depend on the state of the cycle, the nature of fiscal policy and the level of debt. In other words, evidence points to non-linearities in the effects of fiscal policy. This paper provides a framework to examine the role of the level of government debt in the assessment of consolidation policies across the business cycle, allowing for the consolidation multiplier to depend on the level of debt at the time of consolidation. The empirical analysis, which uses a panel of 13 countries between 1980 and 2014, finds that when debt is high, fiscal consolidations based on tax increases are in general self-defeating, in that they result in an increase of the debt-to-GDP ratio. Instead, cutting public expenditure has a less pronounced effect on economic activity and can stabilize debt. The initial level of debt in an economy, when a fiscal consolidation is implemented, appears to work as a channel in explaining evidence of state-dependence of the different consolidation instruments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 17-27
Author(s):  
Imeda Tsindeliani ◽  
Olga Gorbunova ◽  
Elena Matyanova ◽  
Kirill Pisenko ◽  
Oksana Palozyan ◽  
...  

The subjects of this study are the effectiveness of budget innovations in the field budgetary rule making and the role of the government in shaping fiscal policy in a digital economy. The article makes a case for new approaches to budget formation, for the enhanced use of budgetary levers to boost socio-economic development in the context of global digitalization. In order to make the influence of social informatization on economic development more effective, the economy has to move to a flat (network) management model. The problems of budget control are analyzed


1990 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-10
Author(s):  
Jayanth R Varma ◽  
N Venkiteswaran

The Indian capital market has shown signs of buoyancy and dynamism in the recent past. There is a very real need, therefore, to nurture and to give positive direction to the emerging trends in this sphere of economic activity. It is in this context that regulatory agencies have a critical role in providing the right kind of support to avoid bunching of issues as well as in protecting investors against manipulation by unscrupulous investors. Have Indian regulatory agencies risen to the occasion by formulating appropriate and adequate policies to facilitate the development of the capital markets in India? In this article, Varma and Venkiteswaran examine the role of Indian regulatory agencies and evaluate the methodology spelt out in the official guidelines for valuation of equity shares made public by the Government of India.


2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gauti B. Eggertsson

AbstractThis study summarizes a theory of the origin of the current world economic crisis and the role of fiscal policy in mitigating its effect. The perspective is dynamic stochastic general equilibrium analysis. Overall, the model analysis suggests a strong case for fiscal policy if the monetary authority is unable/unwilling to close the output gap. This remains the case, even when explicitly taking into account public debt dynamics.


2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaele Rossi

This paper studies the determinacy properties of monetary and fiscal policy rules in a small-scale New Keynesian model. We modify the standard model in two ways. First, we allow positive public debt in the steady state as in Leeper [Journal of Monetary Economics 27, 129–147 (1991)]. Second, we add rule-of-thumb consumers as in Bilbiie [Journal of Economic Theory 140, 162–196 (2008)]. Leeper studied a model in which Ricardian equivalence holds, and he showed that monetary and fiscal policy can be studied independently. In Bilbiie's analysis, rule-of-thumb consumers break the Ricardian equivalence and generate important consequences for the design of monetary policy. In his model, steady-state public debt was equal to zero. We study a model with both rule-of-thumb consumers and positive steady-state public debt. We find that the mix of fiscal and monetary policies that guarantees equilibrium determinacy is sensitive to the exact values of the parameters of the model.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanos Papadamou ◽  
Trifon Tzivinikos

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effects of contractionary fiscal policy shocks on major Greek macroeconomic variables within a structural vector autoregression framework while accounting for debt dynamics. Design/methodology/approach The sign restriction approach is applied to identify a linear combination of government spending and government revenue shock simultaneously while accounting for debt dynamics. Additionally, output and unemployment responses to fiscal shocks under different scenarios concerning the amalgamation of austerity measures are considered. Findings The results indicate that a contractionary consumption policy shock, namely, a 1 per cent decrease in government consumption and a 1 per cent increase in indirect taxes, is preferred, as it produces a minor decrease in output and substantially decreases public debt, while a contractionary wage policy shock is suitable only when the government aims to sharply reduce public debt, as the consequences for the economy are harsh. A contractionary investment policy shock is not recommended, as it triggers a rise in unemployment and a fall in output, while the effect on the public debt is minor. Practical implications Policymakers should focus their efforts on reducing unproductive government consumption on the expenditure side. Concerning revenues, the reinforcement of tax administration is recommended to ensure that indirect taxes will be collected. Originality/value This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing a disaggregated analysis of the effects of fiscal policy actions in Greece by implementing several fiscal policy scenarios and accounting for the level of public debt. All scenarios are in the vein of the economic adjustment programs guidelines.


World Economy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1216-1236 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Chan ◽  
V. Q. T. Dang ◽  
M. Jiang ◽  
Isabel K. M. Yan

Author(s):  
Aneta Marichova

Abstract In the last years questions related to sustainable development are particularly relevant. The construction market is usually identified as the first sector to face serious problems and requires special attention in implementing the idea. The main reasons for this assessment lie in the specifics of construction as an economic activity, the specifics of the construction product, the construction process, the specifics of organization and management of the construction company and the strong economic, social and environmental effect. The purpose of the proposed study is: 1) analysis of the problem of sustainability of the construction market, 2) the role and influence of the government for the development of sustainable construction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Habtamu Girma DEMIESSIE

This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 pandemic uncertainty shock on the macroeconomic stability in Ethiopia in the short run period. The World Pandemic Uncertainty Index (WPUI) was used a proxy variable to measure COVID-19 Uncertainty shock effect. The pandemic effect on core macroeconomic variables like investment, employment, prices (both food & non-food prices), import, export and fiscal policy indicators was estimated and forecasted using Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) Model. The role of fiscal policy in mitigating the shock effect of coronavirus pandemic on macroeconomic stability is also investigated. The finding of the study reveals that the COVID-19 impact lasts at least three years to shake the economy of Ethiopia. Given that the Ethiopian economy heavily relies on import to supply the bulk of its consumption and investment goods, COVID-19 uncertainty effect starts as supply chain shock, whose effect transmitted into the domestic economy via international trade channel. The pandemic uncertainty shock effect is also expected to quickly transcend to destabilize the economy via aggregate demand, food & non-food prices, investment, employment and export shocks. The overall impact of COVID-19 pandemic uncertainty shock is interpreted into the economy by resulting under consumption at least in the next three years since 2020. Therefore, the government is expected to enact incentives/policy directions which can boost business confidence. A managed expansionary fiscal policy is found key to promote investment, employment and to stabilize food & non-food prices. A particular role of fiscal policy was identified to stabilizing food, transport and communication prices. The potency of fiscal policies in stabilizing food, transport and communication prices go in line with the prevailing reality in Ethiopia where government has strong hands to control those markets directly and/or indirectly. This suggests market failure featuring COVID-19 time, calling for managed interventions of governments to promote market stabilities. More importantly, price stabilization policies of the government can have spillover effects in boosting aggregate demand by spurring investments (and widening employment opportunities) in transport/logistics, hotel & restaurant, culture & tourism and export sectors in particular.


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