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Borrow and Adjust: Fiscal Policy and Sectoral Adjustment in an Open Economy

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  • Erling Steigum
  • Øystein Thøgersen

Abstract

Should the government run fiscal deficits in response to an adverse external shock that warrants transfer of resources from production of non-traded to traded goods? This paper considers normative fiscal policy implications of sectoral adjustment costs in a two-sector model with overlapping generations. Fiscal deficits benefit present generations by depleting foreign assets and slowing down the adjustment process. We show that despite no nominal rigidities, temporary fiscal deficits increase social welfare if adjustment costs prevent immediate sectoral reallocation of inputs. If there are no adjustment costs, the case for fiscal deficits vanishes.

Suggested Citation

  • Erling Steigum & Øystein Thøgersen, 2001. "Borrow and Adjust: Fiscal Policy and Sectoral Adjustment in an Open Economy," CESifo Working Paper Series 583, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_583
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    Cited by:

    1. Cardi, Olivier, 2007. "Another View Of The J-Curve," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 153-174, April.
    2. CARDI, Oliver & BERTINELLI, Luisito, 2004. "A formal model of krugman’s intuition on the J-curve," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2004043, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    3. Mahbub Morshed, A.K.M. & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2011. "Real exchange rate dynamics: The role of elastic labor supply," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1303-1322.
    4. Erling Holmøy, 2006. "Real appreciation as an automatic channel for redistribution of increased government non-tax revenue," Discussion Papers 471, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    5. Torben M. Andersen, 2016. "Automatic stabilizers—the intersection of labour market and fiscal policies," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Steigum, Erling & Thøgersen, Øystein, 2013. "A crisis not wasted – Institutional and structural reforms behind Norway’s strong macroeconomic performance," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 18/2013, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    7. Mohsin, Mohammed & Park, Kihyun, 2015. "Monetary policy in a two-sector dependent economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 118-129.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fiscal policy; sectoral adjustment; intergenerational welfare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H62 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Deficit; Surplus

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