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Do large industrialized economies pursue sustainable debt policies? A comparative study for Japan, Germany and the United States

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  • Fincke, Bettina
  • Greiner, Alfred

Abstract

This paper analyzes the public debt situation in Japan, Germany and the United States by reflecting their respective debt history and by analyzing whether the governments pursue a sustainable debt policy. Starting point of the analysis are theoretical considerations about conditions guaranteeing sustainability of public debt. In the empirical estimations we allow for time-varying parameters to take into account changing government policies. The findings allow to conclude that for all selected countries there is evidence of sustainability of public debt although country specific characteristics of public finances need to be considered.

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  • Fincke, Bettina & Greiner, Alfred, 2011. "Do large industrialized economies pursue sustainable debt policies? A comparative study for Japan, Germany and the United States," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 202-213.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:japwor:v:23:y:2011:i:3:p:202-213
    DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2011.03.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Alfred Greiner, 2015. "Fiscal and Monetary Policy in a Basic Endogenous Growth Model," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 45(2), pages 285-301, February.
    2. Lihe Tu & Emanuele Padovani, 2018. "A Research on the Debt Sustainability of China’s Major City Governments in Post-Land Finance Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    3. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    4. Beqiraj, Elton & Fedeli, Silvia & Forte, Francesco, 2018. "Public debt sustainability: An empirical study on OECD countries," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 238-248.
    5. M. Brachetta & C. Ceci, 2022. "A stochastic control approach to public debt management," Mathematics and Financial Economics, Springer, volume 16, number 5, June.
    6. Neto, David, 2020. "Tracking fiscal discipline. Looking for a PIIGS on the wing," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 147-154.
    7. Paniagua, Jordi & Sapena, Juan & Tamarit, Cecilio, 2017. "Fiscal sustainability in EMU countries: A continued fiscal commitment?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 85-97.
    8. Atsumasa Kondo, 2016. "Sustainability of Public Debt in an AK Model with Complex Tax System," Discussion Papers CRR Discussion Paper Series A: General 21, Shiga University, Faculty of Economics,Center for Risk Research.
    9. Bettina Fincke & Alfred Greiner, 2015. "On the relation between public debt and economic growth: an empirical investigation," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 137-150.
    10. Olivier Mesly & David W. Shanafelt & Nicolas Huck, 2021. "Dysfunctional Markets: A Spray of Prey Perspective," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 797-819, July.
    11. Samia Omrane Belguith & Foued Badr Gabsi, 2019. "Public Debt Sustainability in Tunisia: Empirical Evidence Estimating Time-Varying Parameters," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(2), pages 550-560, June.
    12. Burret Heiko T. & Köhler Ekkehard A. & Feld Lars P., 2013. "Sustainability of Public Debt in Germany – Historical Considerations and Time Series Evidence," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 233(3), pages 291-335, June.
    13. Alfred Greiner, 2015. "Public Debt, Productive Public Spending and Endogenous Growth," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 66(4), pages 520-535, December.
    14. Lau, Evan & Moll de Alba, Jaime & Liew, Kim-Hing, 2022. "Debt and economic growth in Asian developing countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 599-612.
    15. Evan Lau & Ahmad Zubaidi Baharumshah & Soon, 2013. "The behavior of external debt in Asian countries: evidence based on panel unit root tests," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(sup1), pages 377-394, June.
    16. Katia Berti & Eugeniu Colesnic & Cyril Desponts & Stephanie Pamies & Etienne Sail, 2016. "Fiscal Reaction Functions for European Union Countries," European Economy - Discussion Papers 028, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    17. Matteo Brachetta & Claudia Ceci, 2021. "A Stochastic Control Approach to Public Debt Management," Papers 2107.10491, arXiv.org.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public debt; Inter-temporal budget constraint; Penalized spline estimation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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