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Debt and the U.S. Economy

Author

Listed:
  • Ayse Imrohoroglu

    (University of Southern California)

  • Kaiji Chen

    (Emory University)

Abstract

Publicly held debt to GDP ratio in the U.S. is estimated to be 72% in 2011 and is expected to continue rising. Many proposals regarding the ways to curb the government deficit and the resulting debt are being discussed. In this paper we incorporate these different policy proposals in a fully calibrated general equilibrium model. This framework allows us to model the reactions of labor and capital due to changes in policy which impact the projected debt to GDP ratios.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayse Imrohoroglu & Kaiji Chen, 2012. "Debt and the U.S. Economy," 2012 Meeting Papers 229, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed012:229
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    Other versions of this item:

    • Kaiji Chen & Ayşe İmrohoroğlu, 2017. "Debt in the US economy," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(4), pages 675-706, December.

    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Hans A. Holter & Dirk Krueger & Serhiy Stepanchuk, 2019. "How do tax progressivity and household heterogeneity affect Laffer curves?," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 10(4), pages 1317-1356, November.
    3. Bagchi, Shantanu, 2016. "Is The Social Security Crisis Really As Bad As We Think?," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 737-776, April.
    4. Röhrs, Sigrid & Winter, Christoph, 2017. "Reducing government debt in the presence of inequality," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 1-20.
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    6. Cristina Arellano & Timothy J. Kehoe & Herakles Polemarchakis, 2017. "Introduction to the Special Issue on Models of Debt and Debt Crises," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 64(4), pages 605-610, December.
    7. Kudrna, George & Tran, Chung, 2018. "Comparing budget repair measures for a small open economy with growing debt," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 162-183.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E27 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H68 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Forecasts of Budgets, Deficits, and Debt

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