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Austerity and Public debt Dynamics

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  • Favero, Carlo A.
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Abstract

This paper studies the impact of multi-year fiscal consolidation plans on public debt dynamics. Studying the dynamic impact of narratively identified fiscal adjustment plans we find that tax based adjustments result in significant slowdowns of output and inflation but have almost no effect on the debt GDP ratio over a short to medium-term horizon. Spending cuts have instead milder recessionary effects, but contribute to a sustained reduction in the debt GDP ratio. Extending our model to study non-linearities in the dynamics related to the business-cycle and the public debt to GDP ratio, we find that the heterogeneous impact of tax-based and expenditure-based plans on debt mainly emerges mostly in recessions and when debt is increasing rapidly.

Suggested Citation

  • Favero, Carlo A. & ,, 2019. "Austerity and Public debt Dynamics," CEPR Discussion Papers 14072, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14072
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    Cited by:

    1. Alessandro Piergallini, 2021. "Is fiscal austerity really self‐defeating?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(6), pages 1228-1260, December.
    2. Marco Di Pietro & Luigi Marattin & Raoul Minetti, 2021. "Public debt, sovereign spreads and the unpleasant arithmetic of fiscal consolidations," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 155-178, August.
    3. Karamysheva, Madina & Skrobotov, Anton, 2022. "Do we reject restrictions identifying fiscal shocks? identification based on non-Gaussian innovations," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    4. Acocella, Nicola & Beqiraj, Elton & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni & Di Pietro, Marco & Felici, Francesco, 2020. "An evaluation of alternative fiscal adjustment plans: The case of Italy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 699-711.
    5. Acocella, Nicola & Beqiraj, Elton & Di Bartolomeo, Giovanni & Di Pietro, Marco & Felici, Francesco, 2019. "An evaluation of alternative fiscal adjustment plans," EconStor Preprints 209707, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Austerity; Public debt; Output growth; Fiscal adjustment plans;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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