IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hit/cisdps/589.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Theory of Public Debt Overhang

Author

Listed:
  • Kobayashi, Keiichiro

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the effects of unsustainable public debt on technology choice and economic growth. Unsustainable public debt undermines the credibility of government policy because the government will do whatever necessary to postpone fiscal consolidation, as an incumbent government inevitably falls from power upon implementing fiscal consolidation. We show that the lack of commitment makes firms’ choice of technology inefficient. Fiscal consolidation can restore credibility and high growth in the baseline model, while with a different policy setting in the modified model fiscal consolidation may not be able to restore redibility and growth if it is implemented too late.

Suggested Citation

  • Kobayashi, Keiichiro, 2013. "A Theory of Public Debt Overhang," CIS Discussion paper series 589, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    • Handle: RePEc:hit:cisdps:589
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/25483/DP589.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bertola, Giuseppe & Drazen, Allan, 1993. "Trigger Points and Budget Cuts: Explaining the Effects of Fiscal Austerity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 11-26, March.
    2. Gilles Saint-Paul, 1992. "Fiscal Policy in an Endogenous Growth Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(4), pages 1243-1259.
    3. Francesco Giavazzi & Marco Pagano, 1990. "Can Severe Fiscal Contractions Be Expansionary? Tales of Two Small European Countries," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1990, Volume 5, pages 75-122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2010. "Growth in a Time of Debt," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573-578, May.
    5. Roberto Perotti, 1999. "Fiscal Policy in Good Times and Bad," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(4), pages 1399-1436.
    6. Carmen M. Reinhart & Vincent R. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2012. "Public Debt Overhangs: Advanced-Economy Episodes since 1800," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(3), pages 69-86, Summer.
    7. Baum, Anja & Checherita-Westphal, Cristina & Rother, Philipp, 2013. "Debt and growth: New evidence for the euro area," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 809-821.
    8. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2003. "Economic Growth, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262025531, December.
    9. Fischer, S., 1991. "Growth, Macroeconomics, and Development," Working papers 580, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    10. Stanley Fischer, 1991. "Growth, Macroeconomics, and Development," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1991, Volume 6, pages 329-379, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Acemoglu,Daron & Robinson,James A., 2009. "Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521671422.
    12. Robert J. Barro & Rachel McCleary, 2003. "Religion and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 9682, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Koichi Futagami & Takeo Hori & Ryoji Ohdoi, 2010. "Debt Policy and Economic Growth in a Small Open Economy Model with Productive Government Spending," Macroeconomics Working Papers 21875, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research.
    14. Checherita-Westphal, Cristina & Rother, Philipp, 2012. "The impact of high government debt on economic growth and its channels: An empirical investigation for the euro area," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1392-1405.
    15. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Stanley Fischer (ed.), 1991. "NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1991," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262521652, December.
    16. Timothy J. Kehoe & Edward C. Prescott, 2002. "Great Depressions of the Twentieth Century," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, January.
    17. Timothy J. Kehoe & Edward C. Prescott, 2007. "Great depressions of the twentieth century," Monograph, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, number 2007gdott.
    18. Michael Bräuninger, 2005. "The Budget Deficit, Public Debt, and Endogenous Growth," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(5), pages 827-840, December.
    19. Stanley Fischer, 1991. "Growth, Macroeconomics, and Development," NBER Working Papers 3702, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Real Arai & Takuma Kunieda & Keigo Nishida, 2014. "Is Public Debt Growth-Enhancing or Growth-Reducing?," KIER Working Papers 884, Kyoto University, Institute of Economic Research.
    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. Brenda Molonko & Ambrose Jagongo & Job Omagwa, 2018. "Debt Servicing and Sectoral Economic Growth in Kenya," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 5(3), pages 100-107, May.
    2. Rae Gavin, 2016. "Public Debt and Its Impact on the Polish Economy and Society," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 24(1), pages 89-112, March.

    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. KOBAYASHI Keiichiro, 2014. "Public Debt Overhang in the Heterogeneous Agent Model," Discussion papers 14044, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    2. Keiichiro Kobayashi, 2015. "Public Debt Overhang and Economic Growth," Public Policy Review, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan, vol. 11(2), pages 247-276, March.
    3. Keiichiro Kobayashi & Kozo Ueda, 2022. "Secular Stagnation and Low Interest Rates under the Fear of a Government Debt Crisis," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(4), pages 779-824, June.
    4. Branimir Jovanovic, 2017. "Growth forecast errors and government investment and consumption multipliers," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 83-107, January.
    5. Eberhardt, Markus & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2015. "Public debt and growth: Heterogeneity and non-linearity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 45-58.
    6. Panizza, Ugo & Presbitero, Andrea F., 2014. "Public debt and economic growth: Is there a causal effect?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 21-41.
    7. Saungweme, Talknice & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2021. "Sovereign Debt and Economic Growth Nexus in Zimbabwe: A Dynamic Multivariate Causality Test," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 74(2), pages 173-196.
    8. Köppl-Turyna, Monika & Lorenz, Hanno, 2016. "Demand-side economics in times of high debt: The case of the European Union," Working Papers 02, Agenda Austria.
    9. Rebeca Jimenez-Rodriguez & Araceli Rodríguez-López, 2015. "What happens to the relationship between public debt and economic growth in European countries?," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 151-160.
    10. De Vita, Glauco & Trachanas, Emmanouil & Luo, Yun, 2018. "Revisiting the bi-directional causality between debt and growth: Evidence from linear and nonlinear tests," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 55-74.
    11. Ali, Amjad & Ur Rehman, Hafeez, 2015. "Macroeconomic Instability and Its Impact on Gross Domestic Product: An Empirical Analysis of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 71037, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Zixi Liu, 2015. "Do debt and growth dance together? A DSGE model of a small open economy with sovereign debt," Working Papers 2015.05, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    13. Swamy, Vighneswara, 2015. "Government Debt and Economic Growth – Decomposing the Cause and Effect Relationship," MPRA Paper 64105, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Jasper Lukkezen & Coen Teulings, 2013. "Optimal Fiscal Policy," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-064/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    15. AMENDOLA, Adalgiso & DI SERIO, Mario & FRAGETTA, Matteo, 2018. "The Government Spending Multiplier at the Zero Lower Bound: Evidence from the Euro Area," CELPE Discussion Papers 153, CELPE - CEnter for Labor and Political Economics, University of Salerno, Italy.
    16. Swamy, Vighneswara, 2015. "The Dynamics of Government Debt and Economic Growth," MPRA Paper 63693, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Attard, Juergen, 2019. "Public Debt and Economic Growth nexus: A Dynamic Panel ARDL approach," MPRA Paper 96023, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Nikolaos Antonakakis, 2014. "Sovereign Debt and Economic Growth Revisited: The Role of (Non-)Sustainable Debt Thresholds," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp187, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    19. Grobéty, Mathieu, 2018. "Government debt and growth: The role of liquidity," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-22.
    20. Jasper Lukkezen & Coen Teulings, 2013. "Optimal fiscal policy," CPB Discussion Paper 242, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hit:cisdps:589. 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: Digital Resources Section, Hitotsubashi University Library (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cihitjp.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.