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Implicit public debt thresholds: An operational proposal

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  • Alloza, Mario
  • Andrés, Javier
  • Pérez, Javier J.
  • Rojas, Juan A.

Abstract

Gauging the public debt-to-GDP ratio a country can sustain in the medium-run without putting fiscal sustainability at risk is a question of key relevance for policy-makers. Deviations from a safe level of debt should be watched over in order to take corrective measures. In this paper we make a proposal for an operational characterization of the “prudent debt level”. To do so, we use standard methods based on Vector Autoregressions to compute the probability that the public debt ratio exceeds a given threshold, using the Spanish case as an example. The resulting probabilities are highly and positively correlated with market risk assessment, measured by the spread with respect to the German bond. Our estimation of the “prudent debt level” is obtained as the debt-to-GDP ratio that maximizes the correlation between the probability of passing a pre-specified debt threshold and the spread. The so-obtained implicit debt threshold or “prudent debt level”, which is consistent with the medium-term debt-to-GDP ratio anchor of 60% of GDP, presents several advantages as a complement to existing DSA toolkits.

Suggested Citation

  • Alloza, Mario & Andrés, Javier & Pérez, Javier J. & Rojas, Juan A., 2020. "Implicit public debt thresholds: An operational proposal," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 1408-1424.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jpolmo:v:42:y:2020:i:6:p:1408-1424
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpolmod.2020.05.005
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    Cited by:

    1. International Economics and Euro Area Department, 2021. "Report on the Latin American economy. First half of 2021. Outlook, vulnerabilities and policy space," Economic Bulletin, Banco de España, issue 2/2021.
    2. Mario Alloza & Javier Andrés & Pablo Burriel & Iván Kataryniuk & Javier J. Pérez & Juan Luis Vega, 2021. "La reforma del marco de gobernanza de la política fiscal de la Unión Europea en un nuevo entorno macroeconómico," Occasional Papers 2121, Banco de España.
    3. Departamento de Economía Internacional y Área del Euro, 2021. "Report on the Latin American Economy. Second half of 2021. Outlook, vulnerabilities and policy space," Economic Bulletin, Banco de España, issue 4/2021.
    4. Carnazza, Giovanni & Liberati, Paolo, 2021. "The asymmetric impact of the pandemic crisis on interest rates on public debt in the Eurozone," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 521-542.
    5. Mario Alloza & Javier Andrés & Pablo Burriel & Iván Kataryniuk & Javier J. Pérez & Juan Luis Vega, 2021. "The reform of the european Union’s fiscal governance Framework in a new Macroeconomic environment," Occasional Papers 2121, Banco de España.
    6. Lei Wang & Zuchun Luo & Wenyi Wang, 2023. "Risk Contagion of Local Government Implicit Debt Integrating Complex Network and Multi-Subject Coordination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-23, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public debt; Early warning indicators; Fiscal sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • H68 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Forecasts of Budgets, Deficits, and Debt
    • E61 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Policy Objectives; Policy Designs and Consistency; Policy Coordination
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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