IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/not/notcfc/13-07.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Fiscal rules and the maximum sustainable size of the public debt in the Diamond overlapping generations model

Author

Listed:
  • Mark A Roberts

Abstract

We show that the size of the maximum sustainable public debt in the Diamond (1965) OLG model depends on the choice of fiscal instrument. If tax revenue is exogenous, there is a maximum at an interior or bifurcation point, as in Rankin and Roffia’s (2003) initial paper but at a generally higher level than for their case of an exogenous debt. Conversely, if income tax rates are exogenous, the technical maximum is at a corner-point of degeneracy, provided the first Inada condition holds. However, as this implies notional average taxes of 100%, a Laffer Curve becomes important, giving rise to another concept of the maximum debt. More generally, for this closed economy case, the form of the production function in conjunction with the fiscal rule will determine whether the maximum debt is reached at a technical point of bifurcation or at a more behavioural one where tax payers en masse deny further payments to bond holders.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark A Roberts, 2013. "Fiscal rules and the maximum sustainable size of the public debt in the Diamond overlapping generations model," Discussion Papers 2013/07, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
  • Handle: RePEc:not:notcfc:13/07
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cfcm/documents/papers/13-07.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chalk, Nigel A., 2000. "The sustainability of bond-financed deficits: An overlapping generations approach," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 293-328, April.
    2. Karl Farmer & Jacopo Zotti, 2010. "Sustainable government debt in a two-good, two-country overlapping generations model," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 57(3), pages 289-316, September.
    3. Jonathan Eaton, 1981. "Fiscal Policy, Inflation and the Accumulation of Risky Capital," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 48(3), pages 435-445.
    4. Buchanan, James M & Lee, Dwight R, 1982. "Politics, Time, and the Laffer Curve," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(4), pages 816-819, August.
    5. Trabandt, Mathias & Uhlig, Harald, 2006. "How Far Are We From the Slippery Slope? The Laffer Curve Revisited," CEPR Discussion Papers 5657, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Rainer Klump & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2007. "Factor Substitution and Factor-Augmenting Technical Progress in the United States: A Normalized Supply-Side System Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 183-192, February.
    7. Hayne E. Leland, 1968. "Saving and Uncertainty: The Precautionary Demand for Saving," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(3), pages 465-473.
    8. Allingham, Michael G. & Sandmo, Agnar, 1972. "Income tax evasion: a theoretical analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3-4), pages 323-338, November.
    9. de la Croix,David & Michel,Philippe, 2002. "A Theory of Economic Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521001151, September.
    10. Bohn, Henning, 1995. "The Sustainability of Budget Deficits in a Stochastic Economy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(1), pages 257-271, February.
    11. Mark A. Roberts, 2011. "A portfolio explanation of the relationship between macroeconomic volatility and economic growth," Discussion Papers 11/14, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    12. Feldstein, Martin S, 1977. "The Surprising Incidence of a Tax on Pure Rent: A New Answer to an Old Question," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(2), pages 349-360, April.
    13. Rowthorn, Robert, 1999. "Unemployment, Wage Bargaining and Capital-Labour Substitution," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 23(4), pages 413-425, July.
    14. 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.
    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. Mark Roberts, 2014. "The maximum debt-GDP ratio and endogenous growth in the Diamond overlapping generations model: Three overlapping generations are better than two," Discussion Papers 2013/01, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).

    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. Mark Roberts, 2014. "The maximum debt-GDP ratio and endogenous growth in the Diamond overlapping generations model: Three overlapping generations are better than two," Discussion Papers 2013/01, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    2. Futagami, Koichi & Shibata, Akihisa, 1998. "Budget Deficits and Economic Growth," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 53(3-4), pages 331-354.
      • Futagami, Koichi & 二神, 孝一 & フタガミ, コウイチ & Shibata, Akihisa & 柴田, 章久 & シバタ, アキヒサ, 2003. "Budget Deficits and Economic Growth," Discussion Paper 133, Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    3. Maebayashi, Noritaka, 2023. "The pace of fiscal consolidations, fiscal sustainability, and welfare: An overlapping generations approach," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Matteo Formenti, 2008. "Indicators and Tests of Sustainability: The Italian Case," Rivista di Politica Economica, SIPI Spa, vol. 98(6), pages 123-160, November-.
    5. repec:kap:iaecre:v:17:y:2011:i:1:p:45-65 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Karl Farmer, 2011. "Public-Debt Sustainability, Real Exchange Rate, and Country-Specific Saving Rates," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 17(1), pages 45-65, February.
    7. Yakita, Akira, 2014. "Involuntary unemployment and sustainability of bond-financed fiscal deficit," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 79-93.
    8. N. Bilkic & B. Carreras Painter & T. Gries, 2013. "Unsustainable sovereign debt—is the Euro crisis only the tip of the iceberg?," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-45, March.
    9. Karl FARMER, 2010. "Public Debt Sustainability, Exchange Rates and Country-Specific Saving Rates," EcoMod2010 259600054, EcoMod.
    10. Pierre-Richard Agénor & Devrim Yilmaz, 2012. "Simple Dynamics of Public Debt with Productive Public Goods," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 165, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    11. Stefan Homburg, 2014. "Overaccumulation, Public Debt and the Importance of Land," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 15(4), pages 411-435, November.
    12. Susanne Soretz, 2003. "Stochastic Pollution and Environmental Care in an Endogenous Growth Model," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 71(4), pages 448-469, July.
    13. Clemens, Christiane & Soretz, Susanne, 1999. "Konsequenzen des Zins- und Einkommensrisikos auf das wirtschaftliche Wachstum," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-221, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    14. Maebayashi, Noritaka, 2021. "The pace of fiscal consolidations, fiscal sustainability, and welfare: An overlapping generations approach," MPRA Paper 112593, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Feb 2022.
    15. Karl FARMER & Jacopo ZOTTI, 2009. "Sustainable Government Debt in a Two-Country, Two-Good Overlapping Generations Model," EcoMod2009 21500030, EcoMod.
    16. Ott, Ingrid & Soretz, Susanne, 2002. "Optimal Taxation in a Stochastic Endogenous Growth Model with Congestion," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-253, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    17. Clemens Christiane, 2009. "Stochastic Growth and Factor Income Risk," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 10(4), pages 422-447, December.
    18. Rodríguez-Nava, Abigail & Venegas-Martínez, Francisco & López-Herrera, Francisco, 2014. "La necesidad de la reforma fiscal para PEMEX: viabilidad económica y financiera," Sección de Estudios de Posgrado e Investigación de la Escuela Superios de Economía del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, in: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (ed.), Efectos de las reformas estructurales en las fluctuaciones cíclicas y el crecimiento económico en México, volume 1, chapter 2, pages 43-70, Escuela Superior de Economía, Instituto Politécnico Nacional.
    19. Kazuki Hiraga, 2011. "New Methods for Testing the Sustainability of Government Debt," Keio/Kyoto Joint Global COE Discussion Paper Series 2011-020, Keio/Kyoto Joint Global COE Program.
    20. Rainer Klump & Peter McAdam & Alpo Willman, 2012. "The Normalized Ces Production Function: Theory And Empirics," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(5), pages 769-799, December.
    21. Kazuo Nishimura & Carine Nourry & Thomas Seegmuller & Alain Venditti, 2015. "On the (de)stabilizing effect of public debt in a Ramsey model with heterogeneous agents," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 11(1), pages 7-24, March.

    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:not:notcfc:13/07. 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: Hilary Hughes (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cfnotuk.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.