IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedlrv/y2012inovemberp441-456nv.94no.6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The U.S. deficit/debt problem: a longer-run perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel L. Thornton

Abstract

The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100 percent of gross domestic product. Given that a significant amount of this debt is the result of governmental efforts to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis, the recession, and the anemic recovery, it is tempting to think that the debt problem is a recent phenomenon. This article shows that the United States was on a collision course with a major debt problem for nearly four decades before the financial crisis. In particular, the debt problem began around 1970 when the government decided to significantly increase spending without a corresponding increase in revenue. The analysis suggests that the debt problem cannot be permanently resolved without creating a mechanism to prevent the government from running persistent deficits in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel L. Thornton, 2012. "The U.S. deficit/debt problem: a longer-run perspective," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Nov, pages 441-456.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlrv:y:2012:i:november:p:441-456:n:v.94no.6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/12/11/Thornton.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kotlikoff, Laurence J. & Burns, Scott, 2012. "The Clash of Generations: Saving Ourselves, Our Kids, and Our Economy," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262526107, December.
    2. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Kent Smetters, 2003. "Fiscal and generational imbalances: new budget measures for new budget priorities," Policy Discussion Papers, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, issue Dec.
    3. Kent Smetters & Jagadeesh Gokhale, 2003. "Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: New Budget Measures for New Budget Priorities," Books, American Enterprise Institute, number 52628, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Timothy C. Irwin, 2015. "Defining The Government'S Debt And Deficit," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 711-732, September.
    2. Rajnish Mehra & Facundo Piguillem & Edward C. Prescott, 2011. "Costly financial intermediation in neoclassical growth theory," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 2(1), pages 1-36, March.
    3. Martin Larch & João Nogueira Martins, 2007. "Fiscal indicators - Proceedings of the the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs Workshop held on 22 September 2006 in Brussels," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 297, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    4. Kazakova, Maria & Nesterova, Kristina, 2015. "Long-Term Forecast of the Main Parameters of the Budgetary System of Russia," Published Papers 2309, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    5. Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 2006. "Is the United States bankrupt?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 88(Jul), pages 235-250.
    6. Abderrahim Chibi & Sidi Mohamed Chekouri & Mohamed Benbouziane, 2019. "Debt sustainability, structural breaks and nonlinear fiscal adjustment: empirical evidence from Algeria," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 66(4), pages 369-397, December.
    7. David Rosnick & Dean Baker, 2012. "Pension Liabilities: Fear Tactics and Serious Policy," World Economic Review, World Economics Association, vol. 2012(1), pages 1-57, September.
    8. Hagist, Christian & Klusen, Norbert & Plate, Andreas & Raffelhüschen, Bernd, 2005. "Social health insurance: The major driver of unsustainable fiscal policy?," FZG Discussion Papers 1, University of Freiburg, Research Center for Generational Contracts (FZG).
    9. Auerbach, Alan J., 2006. "Budget windows, sunsets, and fiscal control," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-2), pages 87-100, January.
    10. repec:wea:worler:v:2012:y:2012:i:1:p:4 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Eric M. Engen & R. Glenn Hubbard, 2005. "Federal Government Debt and Interest Rates," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2004, Volume 19, pages 83-160, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Follette, Glenn & Sheiner, Louise, 2005. "The Sustainability of Health Spending Growth," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 58(3), pages 391-408, September.
    13. repec:cto:journl:v:24:y:2004:i:1-2:p:51-55 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Kazakova, Maria & Trunin, Pavel, 2015. "Long-Term Prognosis of Basic Demographic and Macroeconomic Indicators in Russia," Published Papers 2308, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    15. Miao, Jianjun & Wang, Neng, 2011. "Risk, uncertainty, and option exercise," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 442-461, April.
    16. Christian Hagist & Norbert Klusen & Andreas Plate & Bernd Raffelhüschen, 2005. "Social Health Insurance - the Major Driver of Unsustainable Fiscal Policy?," CESifo Working Paper Series 1574, CESifo.
    17. Alan J. Auerbach, 2003. "Fiscal Policy, Past and Present," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 34(1), pages 75-138.
    18. Libich, Jan & Nguyen, Dat Thanh & Stehlík, Petr, 2015. "Monetary exit and fiscal spillovers," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(PA), pages 184-206.
    19. McClellan, Mark & Skinner, Jonathan, 2006. "The incidence of Medicare," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1-2), pages 257-276, January.
    20. Bodrova, Vera & Gvozdeva, Margarita & Kazakova, Maria, 2015. "Methods of Long-term Forecasting: Comparative Analysis and Foreign Experience of Applying," Published Papers 2310, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    21. Mr. Evan C Tanner, 2013. "Fiscal Sustainability: A 21st Century Guide for the Perplexed," IMF Working Papers 2013/089, International Monetary Fund.
    22. Ferhan Salman, 2004. "Balancing Turkey�s Intertemporal Budget Gap," Working Papers 0408, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.

    More about this item

    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:fip:fedlrv:y:2012:i:november:p:441-456:n:v.94no.6. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Scott St. Louis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbslus.html .

    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.