Sostenibilidad fiscal: una aproximación con datos panel para 8 países Latinoaméricanos[Fiscal sustainability: A data panel approach for eight Latin American countries]

This paper examines the hypothesis of fiscal sustainability for 8 Latin American countries. Using panel data models, we determined whether the revenue and primary expenditure of governments are sustainable in the long run. We used second generation panel data unit root and cointegration tests, which allows for cross-sectional dependence among countries, as well as possible structural breaks. In particular, we used Hadri and Rao (2008) unit root test and Westerlund (2006) cointegration test. We found empirical evidence that the primary deficit in the 8 Latin American countries is sustainable in a weak sense in the period under study.