BUDGET DEFICITS AND INTEREST RATES: THE US EVIDENCE SINCE 1946

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (02) ◽  
pp. 191-200
Author(s):  
SHAKIL QUAYES ◽  
A. M. M. JAMAL
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Corporate Bonds ◽  
Federal Budget ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
Budget Deficits ◽  
Real Rate ◽  
The Us ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Post War

Many economists believe that federal government's budget deficits result in higher interest rates. This increase in interest rates can stifle private investment and impede the real rate of economic growth for the economy. This paper examines the potential impact of federal budget deficits on long-term interest rates for corporate bonds. The study is based on post-war annual US data, and employs a standard demand-supply model. The empirical results in our study provide evidence that the increasing budget deficits lead to higher interest rate for corporate bonds. In this regard, our study supports arguments for the crowding out theory.

scholarly journals The Tendency Towards Secondarity in Managing Global Imbalances

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-311
Author(s):  
Lucian Croitoru
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Vicious Circle ◽  
Budget Deficits ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Real Interest Rates ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Eu

Abstract In this study, we analyse the factors that have led to the fall of real interest rates on the long term. We show that this tendency, i.e. the fall in real interest rates, which began three decades ago in developed countries is well explained by the emergence and growth of the global saving glut. We formulate the hypothesis according to which the increase in the global excess saving is mostly the result of a process whereby countries place themselves on a secondary position vis-à-vis the US (i.e. secondarity) with regard to taking and managing risks which occur after a crisis. The ensuing peculiarity of global excess saving is that it is generated in an increasing number of countries or economic areas, with the overwhelming part located in a few of them, while the overwhelming part of the global deficit of savings is located in the US. Secondarity is caused both by governments, which have sought to move to excess saving, as was the case of Asian countries (Bernanke, 2005), or to capping budget deficits, as it happened in the Eurozone and in the EU, and by the free choice of every economic agent in the private sector. Secondarity represents a major cause for a vicious circle in which the decline in interest rates to ever lower levels has led to the emergence of financial bubbles, whose bursting requires the further reduction of interest rates, thus generating new bubbles and so on and so forth. Misinterpreted in real time as the “Great Moderation”, this vicious circle went unobserved.

Impact of federal budget deficits on the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated long-term corporate bonds, 1960-2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (02) ◽  
pp. 198-208
Author(s):  
Don Capener ◽  
Richard Cebula ◽  
Fabrizio Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Real Interest Rate ◽  
Budget Deficit ◽  
Corporate Bonds ◽  
Federal Budget ◽  
Budget Deficits ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Federal Budget Deficit ◽  
The Us ◽  
Ex Ante

Purpose To investigate the impact of the federal budget deficit (expressed as a per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP) in the US on the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated corporate bonds and to provide evidence that is both contemporary and covers an extended time period, namely, 1960 through 2015. Design/methodology/approach The analysis constructs a loanable funds model that involves a variety of financial and economic variables, with the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa-rated long-term corporate bonds as the dependent variable. The dependent variable is contemporaneous with the federal budget deficit and two other interest rate measures. Accordingly, instrumental variables are identified for each of these contemporaneous explanatory variables. The model also consists of four additional (lagged) explanatory variables. The model is then estimated using auto-regressive, i.e., AR(1), two-stage least squares. Findings The principal finding is that the ex ante real interest rate yield on Moody’s Baa rated corporate bonds is an increasing function of the federal budget deficit, expressed as a per cent of GDP. In particular, if the federal budget deficit were to rise by one per centage point, say from 3 to 4 per cent of GDP, the ex ante real interest rate would rise by 58 basis points. Research limitations/implications There are other time-series techniques that could be applied to the topic, such as co-integration, although the AR(1) process is tailored for studying volatile series such as interest rates and stock prices. Practical/implications The greater the US federal budget deficit, the greater the real cost of funds to firms. Hence, the high budget deficits of recent years have led to the crowding out of investment in new plant, new equipment, and new technology. These impacts lower economic growth and restrict prosperity in the US over time. Federal budget deficits must be substantially reduced so as to protect the US economy. Social/implications Higher budget deficits act to reduce investment in ew plant, new equipment and new technology. This in turn reduces job growth and real GDP growth and compromises the health of the economy. Originality/value This is the first study to focus on the impact of the federal budget deficit on the ex ante real long term cost of funds to firms in decades. Nearly all related studies fail to focus on this variable. Since, in theory, this variable (represented by the ex ante real yield on Moody’s Baa rated long term corporate bonds) is a key factor in corporate investment decisions, the empirical findings have potentially very significant implications for US firms and for the economy as a whole in view of the extraordinarily high budget deficits of recent years.

scholarly journals Federal Budget Policy with an Aging Population and Persistently Low Interest Rates

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas W. Elmendorf ◽  
Louise M. Sheiner
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Federal Budget ◽  
Federal Spending ◽  
Budget Deficits ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Low Interest Rates ◽  
Budget Policy ◽  
Federal Debt ◽  
The Government

Some observers have argued that the projections for high and rising debt pose a grave threat to the country's economic future and give the government has less fiscal space to respond to recessions or other unexpected developments, so they urge significant changes in tax or spending policies to reduce federal borrowing. In stark contrast, others have noted that interest rates on long-term federal debt are extremely low and have argued that such persistently low interest rates justify additional federal borrowing and investment, at least for the short and medium term. We analyze this controversy focusing on two main issues: the aging of the US population and interest rates on US government debt. It is generally understood that these factors play an important role in the projected path of the US debt-to-GDP ratio. What is less recognized is that these changes also have implications for the appropriate level of US debt. We argue that many—though not all— of the factors that may be contributing to the historically low level of interest rates imply that both federal debt and federal investment should be substantially larger than they would be otherwise. In conclusion, although significant policy changes to reduce federal budget deficits ultimately will be needed, they do not have to be implemented right away. Instead, the focus of federal budget policy over the coming decade should be to increase federal investment while enacting changes in federal spending and taxes that will reduce deficits gradually over time.

scholarly journals Macroeconomic Synchronization Between G3 Countries

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amado Peirό
Keyword(s):  
Business Cycle ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Us ◽  
Production Prices ◽  
Over Time

AbstractThis paper studies the existence of a world business cycle by examining quarterly and annual comovements in production, prices and interest rates in the three main world economies: Germany, Japan and the US. In accordance with earlier studies, contemporaneous relationships clearly dominate short-term dynamics. The evidence indicates the existence of strong comovements in prices and long-term interest rates, and, to a lesser degree, in GDP and short-term interest rates. They are, however, rather unstable over time.

scholarly journals The Spillover Effects of the US Unconventional Monetary Policy: New Evidence from Asian Developing Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 165
Author(s):  
Thi Tran ◽  
Hoang Pham
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Unconventional Monetary Policy ◽  
Equity Prices ◽  
Developing Markets ◽  
The Us ◽  
Asian Developing Countries

This paper aims to trace the monthly responses of equity prices, long-term interest rates, and exchange rates in Asian developing markets to the US unconventional monetary policy (UMP). The main research question is to explore whether UMP shocks exist in those markets. We also consider the differences in the mean responses of those asset prices between traditional and non-traditional monetary policy phases. To address such concerns, we employ a panel vector autoregression with exogenous variables (Panel VARX) model and estimate the model by the least-squares dummy variable (LSDV) estimator in three different periods spanning from 2004M2 to 2018M4. The first finding is that UMP shocks from the US are associated with a surge in equity prices, a decline in long-term interest rates, and an appreciation of currencies in Asian developing markets. In contrast, the conventional monetary policy shocks from the US seem to exert adverse effects on these recipient countries. These empirical results suggest that the policymakers in Asian developing countries should cautiously take into account the spillover effects from the US unconventional monetary policy once it is executed.

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