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On prosperity and posterity: the need for fiscal discipline in a monetary union

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Author Info
Carsten Detken () (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
Vítor Gaspar () (BANCO DE PORTUGAL, Avenida Almirante Reis, 71- 8º, 1150-012 LISBOA - PORTUGAL)
Bernhard Winkler () (European Central Bank, Kaiserstrasse 29, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

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Abstract

We show how in a Blanchard-Yaari, overlapping generations framework, perfect substitutability of government bonds in Monetary Union tempts governments to exploit the enlarged common pool of savings. In Nash equilibrium all governments increase their bond financed transfers to current generations (prosperity effect) at the expense of future generations (posterity effect). The resulting deficit bias occurs even if one assumes that before Monetary Union countries had eliminated their deficit bias by designing appropriate domestic institutions. The paper provides a rationale for an increased focus on fiscal discipline in Monetary Union, without the need to assume imperfect credibility of existing Treaty provisions or to refer to extreme situations involving sovereign default. We draw on existing empirical evidence to argue that the degree of government bond substitutability within the European Monetary Union is an order of magnitude larger than in the global economy.

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Paper provided by European Central Bank in its series Working Paper Series with number 420.

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Length: 40 pages
Date of creation: Dec 2004
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Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20040420

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Related research
Keywords: Fiscal spillover effects common pool overlapping generations bond market integration fiscal discipline fiscal rules European Monetary Union.

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Christiansen, Charlotte, 2003. "Volatility-Spillover E ffects in European Bond Markets," Finance Working Papers 03-8, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Business Studies. [Downloadable!]
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    Other versions:
  3. Ardagna, Silvia & Caselli, Francesco & Lane, Timothy, 2004. "Fiscal Discipline and the Cost of Public Debt Service: Some Estimates for OECD Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 4661, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Beetsma, Roel & Uhlig, Harald, 1999. "An Analysis of the Stability and Growth Pact," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(458), pages 546-71, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Roger Gordon & Vitor Gaspar, 2001. "Home Bias in Portfolios and Taxation of Asset Income," Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 1(advances/), pages 1001-1001. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Lieven Baele & Annalisa Ferrando & Peter Hördahl & Elizaveta Krylova & Cyril Monnet, 2004. "Measuring financial integration in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 14, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Fischer, Stanley, 1979. "Capital Accumulation on the Transition Path in a Monetary Optimizing Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(6), pages 1433-39, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Restoy, Fernando, 1996. "Interest rates and fiscal discipline in monetary unions," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 1629-1646, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Kerstin Bernoth & Jürgen von Hagen & Ludger Schuknecht, 2004. "Sovereign risk premia in the European government bond market," Working Paper Series 369, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Buiter, Willem H, 1988. "Death, Birth, Productivity Growth and Debt Neutrality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(391), pages 279-93, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Chang, Roberto, 1990. "International coordination of fiscal deficits," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 347-366, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Carsten Detken, 1999. "Fiscal policy effectiveness and neutrality results in a non-Ricardian world," Working Paper Series 3, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Kevin Sheppard & Robert F. Engle & Lorenzo Cappiello, 2003. "Asymmetric dynamics in the correlations of global equity and bond returns," Working Paper Series 204, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Weil, Philippe, 1989. "Overlapping families of infinitely-lived agents," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 183-198, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Cohen, Daniel, 1985. "Inflation, wealth and interest rates in an intertemporal optimizing model," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 73-85, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Philipp Paulus, 2006. "Brüssel, Frankfurt oder Basel - Wo muss das Problem steigender Staatsschulden in der Europäischen Währungsunion gelöst werden?," Otto-Wolff-Institut Discussion Paper Series 01/2006, Otto-Wolff-Institut für Wirtschaftsordnung, Köln, Deutschland. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jean-Paul Fitoussi & Francesco Saraceno, 2007. "Fiscal Discipline as a Social Norm: The European Stability Pact," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2007-22, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE). [Downloadable!]
  3. António Afonso, 2007. "Public finances in Portugal: a brief longrun view," Working Papers 2007/01, Department of Economics at the School of Economics and Management (ISEG), Technical University of Lisbon.. [Downloadable!]
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