IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/oaefxx/v5y2017i1p1351674.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Empirical test of the Ricardian Equivalence in the Kingdom of Lesotho

Author

Listed:
  • Teboho Jeremiah Mosikari
  • Joel Hinaunye Eita

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to test the existence of Ricardian Equivalence in Lesotho using annual data for two sample periods, 1980–2014 and 1988–2014. This proposition is important and has crucial implications for tax policy. Household consumption, government debt, government expenditure, GDP per capita, population growth and inflation are variables which are used for this analysis. The study used ARDL cointegration approach to investigate the relationship between these variables. The study found that there is long run equilibrium relationship among the variables in two sample periods. The results show that an increase in government debt or government expenditure will decrease household consumption per capita. This implies that the Ricardian Equivalence does hold for Lesotho. The results also imply that fiscal policy is an ineffective tool to stabilize the economy. Lesotho has limited fiscal flexibility, and it will be difficult or challenging to increase private consumption and economic growth, particularly during economic downturn.

Suggested Citation

  • Teboho Jeremiah Mosikari & Joel Hinaunye Eita, 2017. "Empirical test of the Ricardian Equivalence in the Kingdom of Lesotho," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1351674-135, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:oaefxx:v:5:y:2017:i:1:p:1351674
    DOI: 10.1080/23322039.2017.1351674
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/23322039.2017.1351674
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/23322039.2017.1351674?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.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barro, Robert J, 1989. "The Ricardian Approach to Budget Deficits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 37-54, Spring.
    2. Vratislav Izák, 2014. "Private and Public Debt," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(1), pages 4-21.
    3. Becker, Torbjörn, 1995. "Government Debt and Private Consumption: Theory and Evidence," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 71, Stockholm School of Economics.
    4. Dickey, David A & Fuller, Wayne A, 1981. "Likelihood Ratio Statistics for Autoregressive Time Series with a Unit Root," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(4), pages 1057-1072, June.
    5. Gogas, Periklis & Plakandaras, Vasilios & Papadimitriou, Theophilos, 2014. "Public debt and private consumption in OECD countries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-7.
    6. Kostas Drakos, 2001. "Testing the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem: Time Series Evidence from Greece," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 26(1), pages 149-160, June.
    7. Ms. Sanchita Mukherjee & Ms. Rina Bhattacharya, 2010. "Private Sector Consumption and Government Consumption and Debt in Advanced Economies: An Empirical Study," IMF Working Papers 2010/264, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Stock, James H & Watson, Mark W, 1993. "A Simple Estimator of Cointegrating Vectors in Higher Order Integrated Systems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(4), pages 783-820, July.
    9. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    10. Vansteenkiste, Isabel & Nickel, Christiane, 2008. "Fiscal policies, the current account and Ricardian equivalence," Working Paper Series 935, European Central Bank.
    11. Johansen, Soren, 1995. "Likelihood-Based Inference in Cointegrated Vector Autoregressive Models," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198774501.
    12. Berben, Robert-Paul & Brosens, Teunis, 2007. "The impact of government debt on private consumption in OECD countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 220-225, February.
    13. Paresh Kumar Narayan, 2005. "The saving and investment nexus for China: evidence from cointegration tests," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(17), pages 1979-1990.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. N. Mhlaba & A. Phiri, 2019. "Is public debt harmful towards economic growth? New evidence from South Africa," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 1603653-160, January.
    2. Sakiru Adebola Solarin & Muhammad Shahbaz & Chris Stewart, 2018. "Is the consumption-income ratio stationary in African countries? Evidence from new time series tests that allow for structural breaks," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(38), pages 4122-4136, August.
    3. Attard, Juergen, 2019. "Public Debt and Economic Growth nexus: A Dynamic Panel ARDL approach," MPRA Paper 96023, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Fakhri J. Hasanov & Lester C. Hunt & Ceyhun I. Mikayilov, 2016. "Modeling and Forecasting Electricity Demand in Azerbaijan Using Cointegration Techniques," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-31, December.
    2. Fakhri Hasanov & Fuad Mammadov & Nayef Al-Musehel, 2018. "The Effects of Fiscal Policy on Non-Oil Economic Growth," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Chindo Sulaiman & A. S. Abdul-Rahim, 2018. "Population Growth and CO2 Emission in Nigeria: A Recursive ARDL Approach," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(2), pages 21582440187, April.
    4. Fakhri J. Hasanov & Muhammad Javid & Frederick L. Joutz, 2022. "Saudi Non-Oil Exports before and after COVID-19: Historical Impacts of Determinants and Scenario Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-38, February.
    5. Fakhri Hasanov & Jeyhun Mikayilov & Cihan Bulut & Elchin Suleymanov & Fuzuli Aliyev, 2017. "The Role of Oil Prices in Exchange Rate Movements: The CIS Oil Exporters," Economies, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Singh, Tarlok, 2010. "Does domestic saving cause economic growth? A time-series evidence from India," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 231-253, March.
    7. Saima Sarwar, 2015. "Revisiting Ricardian Equivalence Hypothesis (REH) For Pakistan Using Money Demand Function Approach," Journal of Empirical Economics, Research Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 4(3), pages 154-166.
    8. Md Shahiduzzaman & Allan Layton & Khorshed Alam, 2015. "On the contribution of information and communication technology to productivity growth in Australia," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 281-304, November.
    9. Gogas, Periklis & Plakandaras, Vasilios & Papadimitriou, Theophilos, 2014. "Public debt and private consumption in OECD countries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-7.
    10. Bulut, Umit & Muratoglu, Gonul, 2018. "Renewable energy in Turkey: Great potential, low but increasing utilization, and an empirical analysis on renewable energy-growth nexus," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 240-250.
    11. Taha, Roshaiza & Colombage, Sisira R.N. & Maslyuk, Svetlana & Nanthakumar, Loganathan, 2013. "Does financial system activity affect tax revenue in Malaysia? Bounds testing and causality approach," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 147-157.
    12. repec:ipg:wpaper:2014-056 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Hasanov, Fakhri J. & Shannak, Sa'd, 2020. "Electricity incentives for agriculture in Saudi Arabia. Is that relevant to remove them?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    14. Tariq Hussain & Ahmad Raza Ul Mustafa & Makhdum M.I. & Kaleem Ullah, 2022. "Defense Expenditures, Fiscal Deficit And Debt Servicing Nexus: A Case Study Of Pakistan," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 11(2), pages 74-83, June.
    15. Tuck Cheong Tang, 2008. "Aggregate Import Demand Function for Japan: A Cointegration Re-investigation," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 363-377.
    16. Samih Antoine Azar & Angelic Salha, 2017. "The Bias in the Long Run Relation between the Prices of BRENT and West Texas Intermediate Crude Oils," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(1), pages 44-54.
    17. Mohamed Maher & Yanzhi Zhao, 2022. "Do Political Instability and Military Expenditure Undermine Economic Growth in Egypt? Evidence from the ARDL Approach," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(8), pages 956-979, November.
    18. Bulus Gokay Canberk, 2020. "Growth-maximizing public debt in Turkey: An empirical investigation," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 6(3), pages 68-87, August.
    19. Md. Shahiduzzaman & Khorshed Alam, 2014. "A reassessment of energy and GDP relationship: the case of Australia," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 323-344, April.
    20. Sugra Humbatova & Afag Huseyn & Natig Gadim-Oglu Hajiyev, 2023. "Impact of Oil Factor on Investment: The Case of Azerbaijan," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(2), pages 129-148, March.
    21. Ian P. Cassar & Kurt Davison & Christian Xuereb, 2018. "Does the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem Capture the Consumption Behavior of Maltese Households?," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(12), pages 1-77, December.

    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:taf:oaefxx:v:5:y:2017:i:1:p:1351674. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/OAEF20 .

    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.