IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/1232.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Theory of Optimum Deficits and Debt

Author

Listed:
  • Willem H. Buiter

Abstract

The paper surveys a number of neo-classical and neo-Keynesian approcaches to government financial policy. After reviewing the very restrictive conditions under which financial policy is just a veil without real consequences, non-neutral financial policy in neo-classical models is analyzed. At full employment, the substitution of borrowing for lump sum taxes crowds outprivate capital formation in a closed economy.Government financial policy can be used to implement optimal intertemporal risk distribution schemes. In the presence of distortionary taxes, the smoothing of tax rates over time may be optimal even where this involves systematic and predictable departures from continuous budget balance. The case for deficit finance and the operation of the automatic fiscal stabilizers in a Keynesian world with disequilibrium in labour and output markets is restated.The case for any kind of active financial policy rests on the presence of capital market imperfections (including incomplete contingent forward markets such as insurance markets), on the longevity of the institution of government and on the government's unique ability to tax. Finally, certain long-run aspects of the fiscal and monetary stance are analyzed. This includes their sustainability, i.e. the consistency of long-term spending and taxation plans with the monetary objectives and the crowding outtargets. The concepts of the comprehensive net worth of the public sector and its permanent income are central to this analysis. The current U.K. position appears to be one of an unsustainable, "permanent surplus."

Suggested Citation

  • Willem H. Buiter, 1983. "The Theory of Optimum Deficits and Debt," NBER Working Papers 1232, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:1232
    Note: ITI IFM
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w1232.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hall, Robert E, 1978. "Stochastic Implications of the Life Cycle-Permanent Income Hypothesis: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(6), pages 971-987, December.
    2. Turnovsky, Stephen J, 1980. "The Choice of Monetary Instrument under Alternative Forms of Price Expectations," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 48(1), pages 39-62, March.
    3. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    4. Sandmo, Agnar, 1974. "A Note on the Structure of Optimal Taxation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(4), pages 701-706, September.
    5. Thomas J. Sargent & Neil Wallace, 1984. "Some Unpleasant Monetarist Arithmetic," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Brian Griffiths & Geoffrey E. Wood (ed.), Monetarism in the United Kingdom, pages 15-41, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1988. "On the Relevance or Irrelevance of Public Financial Policy," International Economic Association Series, in: Kenneth J. Arrow & Michael J. Boskin (ed.), The Economics of Public Debt, chapter 2, pages 41-76, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. Carmichael, Jeffrey, 1982. "On Barro's Theorem of Debt Neutrality: The Irrelevance of Net Wealth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 202-213, March.
    8. Robert J. Barro, 1981. "On the Predictability of Tax-Rate Changes," NBER Working Papers 0636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Barro, Robert J, 1979. "On the Determination of the Public Debt," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 940-971, October.
    10. Sadka, Efraim, 1977. "A theorem on uniform taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 387-391, June.
    11. Buiter, Willem H, 1981. "The Superiority of Contingent Rules over Fixed Rules in Models with Rational Expectations," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 91(363), pages 647-670, September.
    12. Weiss, Laurence M, 1980. "The Role for Active Monetary Policy in a Rational Expectations Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 221-233, April.
    13. Siegel, Jeremy J, 1979. "Inflation-Induced Distortions in Government and Private Saving Statistics," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 61(1), pages 83-90, February.
    14. Webb, David C, 1981. "The Net Wealth Effect of Government Bonds When Credit Markets are Imperfect," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 91(362), pages 405-414, June.
    15. Finn Kydland & Edward C. Prescott, 1980. "A Competitive Theory of Fluctuations and the Feasibility and Desirability of Stabilization Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Rational Expectations and Economic Policy, pages 169-198, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Willem H. Buiter, 1983. "Deficits, Crowding Out and Inflation: The Simple Analytics," NBER Working Papers 1078, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    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. Buiter, Willem H., 1996. "Aspects of Fiscal Performance in some Transition Economies under Fund-supported Programs," CEPR Discussion Papers 1535, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Kenneth Kletzer, 1997. "Volatility, External Debt, and Fiscal Risk: Simulations of the Impact of Shocks on Fiscal Adjustment for Thirteen Latin American Countries," Research Department Publications 4092, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    3. Willem H. Buiter, 1984. "Measuring Aspects of Fiscal and Financial Policy," NBER Working Papers 1332, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Ariyo Ademola, 1997. "Productivity of the Nigerian Tax System: 1970–1990," Working Papers 67, African Economic Research Consortium, Research Department.
    5. Kenneth Kletzer, 1997. "Volatilidad, deuda externa y riesgo fiscal: simulación de los efectos de las sacudidas sobre el ajuste fiscal de 13 países latinoamericanos," Research Department Publications 4093, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    6. James M. Buchanan & Jennifer Roback, 1987. "The Incidence and Effects of Public Debt in the Absence of Fiscal Illusion," Public Finance Review, , vol. 15(1), pages 5-25, January.

    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. António Afonso, 2001. "Government indebtedness and european consumers behaviour," Working Papers Department of Economics 2001/12, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    2. Willem H. Buiter, 1982. "The Proper Measurement of Government Budget Deficits: Comprehensive Wealth Accounting or Permanent Income Accounting for the Public Sector," NBER Working Papers 1013, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Elmendorf, Douglas W. & Gregory Mankiw, N., 1999. "Government debt," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 25, pages 1615-1669, Elsevier.
    4. António Afonso, 2008. "Euler testing Ricardo and Barro in the EU," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 5(16), pages 1-14.
    5. Etro, Federico, 2017. "Research in economics and macroeconomics," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 373-383.
    6. Huang, Chao-Hsi & Lin, Kenneth S., 1993. "Deficits, government expenditures, and tax smoothing in the United States: 1929-1988," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 317-339, June.
    7. B. Douglas Bernheim, 1987. "Ricardian Equivalence: An Evaluation of Theory and Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1987, Volume 2, pages 263-316, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Robert J. Barro, 1981. "On the Predictability of Tax-Rate Changes," NBER Working Papers 0636, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Buiter, Willem H., 1984. "Measuring Aspects of Fiscal and Financial Policy," CEPR Discussion Papers 13, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Assaf Razin & Efraim Sadka, 1996. "Fiscal Balance During Inflation, Disinflation, and Immigration: Policy Lessons," IMF Working Papers 1996/033, International Monetary Fund.
    11. Bernd Hayo & Matthias Uhl, 2017. "Taxation and consumption: evidence from a representative survey of the German population," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(53), pages 5477-5490, November.
    12. Michael Anyadike-Danes & Jean-Paul Fitoussi & Jacques Le Cacheux, 1983. "De l'austérité budgétaire en période de récession," Revue de l'OFCE, Programme National Persée, vol. 5(1), pages 121-148.
    13. Attanasio, Orazio P., 1995. "The intertemporal allocation of consumption: theory and evidence," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 39-56, June.
    14. Alpha C. Chiang & Stephen M. Miller, 1998. "The Perception of Government Bonds and Money as Net Wealth: An Integrated Approach," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 24(4), pages 435-448, Fall.
    15. Jussi Lindgren, 2021. "Examination of Interest-Growth Differentials and the Risk of Sovereign Insolvency," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, April.
    16. Jacob A. Frenkel & Assaf Razin, 1984. "Budget Deficits and Rates of Interest in the World Economy," NBER Working Papers 1354, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 1988. "Money, Credit, and Business Fluctuations," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 64(4), pages 307-322, December.
    18. Grigoli, Francesco & Herman, Alexander & Schmidt-Hebbel, Klaus, 2018. "Saving in the world," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 257-270.
    19. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5948 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Chatziantoniou, Ioannis & Duffy, David & Filis, George, 2013. "Stock market response to monetary and fiscal policy shocks: Multi-country evidence," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 754-769.
    21. Johan Adler, 2006. "The Tax‐smoothing Hypothesis: Evidence from Sweden, 1952–1999," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 108(1), pages 81-95, March.

    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:nbr:nberwo:1232. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.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.