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Government Size and Business Cycle Volatility; How Important Are Credit Constraints?

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  • Markus Leibrecht
  • Johann Scharler

Abstract

In this paper we analyze how the availability of credit influences the relationship between government size as a proxy for fiscal stabilization policy and the amplitude of business cycle fluctuations in a sample of advanced OECD countries. Interpreting relatively low loan-tovalue ratios as an indication for tight credit constraints, we find that government size exerts a stabilizing effect on output and consumption growth fluctuations only when credit constraints are relatively tight. Our results are robust with respect to different measures of government size and provide support for the hypothesis that credit market frictions play a crucial role in the transmission of fiscal policy.

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  • Markus Leibrecht & Johann Scharler, 2012. "Government Size and Business Cycle Volatility; How Important Are Credit Constraints?," Working Papers 2012-04, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    • Handle: RePEc:inn:wpaper:2012-04
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    2. Abdulaziz H. Algaeed, 2022. "Government Spending Volatility and Real Economic Growth: Evidence From a Major Oil Producing Country, Saudi Arabia, 1970 to 2018," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, April.
    3. Quintero Otero, Jorge David & Padilla Sierra, Alcides de Jesús, 2024. "Impacto de la sincronización sub-nacional sobre el comportamiento de los ciclos nacionales en economías emergentes con inflación objetivo," Documentos Departamento de Economía 54, Universidad del Norte.
    4. Stojanovikj, Martin, 2022. "Government size, inflation targeting and business cycle volatility," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-12.
    5. Solomos, Dionysios & Papageorgiou, Theofanis & Koumparoulis, Dimitrios, 2012. "Financial Sector and Business Cycles Determinants in the EMU context: An Empirical Approach (1996-2011)," MPRA Paper 43858, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Fabrice Collard & Harris Dellas & George Tavlas, 2017. "Government Size and Macroeconomic Volatility," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(336), pages 797-819, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    business cycle; volatility; fiscal policy; stabilization policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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