IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joecas/v28y2023ics1703494923000464.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fiscal asymmetries and debt crises: Evidence from Lebanon using a sign restricted structural VAR model

Author

Listed:
  • Neaime, Simon
  • Badra, Nasser
  • Gaysset, Isabelle

Abstract

This study identifies empirically Lebanon's fiscal asymmetries and shocks and traces their effects on GDP using a sign-restricted structural VAR approach. Following Arias et al.’s (2018) identification procedure of sign and zero restrictions, our empirical findings point to a sluggish effect of fiscal policy on economic activity, stipulating that fiscal policy is conducted with non-Keynesian features. The study also documents evidence in favor of crowding out effects given that central government's borrowings are mainly from the local financial market. Moreover, with a non-Keynesian effect of fiscal policy, policy makers should refrain from using fiscal tools to counteract business-cycle fluctuations. It is shown that in order to break through government expenditure's inefficiency, the government must curb a rising budget deficit, which is harnessing an increasing cost of capital and impinging negatively on debt and its service. A rising sovereign debt, in turn, has subsequently triggered a sovereign debt crisis in October 2019.

Suggested Citation

  • Neaime, Simon & Badra, Nasser & Gaysset, Isabelle, 2023. "Fiscal asymmetries and debt crises: Evidence from Lebanon using a sign restricted structural VAR model," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joecas:v:28:y:2023:i:c:s1703494923000464
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeca.2023.e00334
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1703494923000464
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jeca.2023.e00334?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Lebanon'S debt crisis; Structural VAR; Fiscal shocks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E69 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Other
    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joecas:v:28:y:2023:i:c:s1703494923000464. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-economic-asymmetries/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.