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Fiscal policy in the US: Sustainable after all?

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  • Aldama, Pierre
  • Creel, Jérôme

Abstract

The sustainability of US public debt has been widely discussed since the Great Recession. Using annual data since 1940, we estimate and compare different specifications of fiscal rules. Estimates of constant-parameter fiscal rules show no evidence of sustainability. This may be due to the instability of government's behaviour over time. Thus, we estimate a Markov-switching fiscal rule in order to identify periods of unsustainable and sustainable fiscal policies. First, we show that the government stabilizes public debt only periodically. Second, during these periods, the government's reaction is sufficiently tight to stabilize public debt over the entire horizon. We conclude that a relatively short-lived but tight fiscal contraction can be sufficient to ensure long-run US debt sustainability.

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  • Aldama, Pierre & Creel, Jérôme, 2019. "Fiscal policy in the US: Sustainable after all?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 471-479.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:81:y:2019:i:c:p:471-479
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2018.03.017
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    5. António Afonso & José Alves & Oļegs Matvejevs & Oļegs Tkačevs, 2023. "Fiscal Sustainability and the Role of Inflation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10843, CESifo.
    6. Anna Staszewska-Bystrova & Victor Bystrov, 2022. "The Evolution of Fiscal Policy and Public Debt Dynamics: The Case of Sweden," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 67-83.
    7. Olegs Tkacevs & Karsten Staehr & Katri Urke, 2023. "Fiscal Performance under Inflation and Inflation Surprises: Evidence from Fiscal Reaction Functions for the Euro Area," Working Papers 2023/04, Latvijas Banka.
    8. Afonso, António & Alves, José & Monteiro, Sofia, 2024. "Sovereign risk dynamics in the EU: The time varying relevance of fiscal and external (im)balances," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Intan Syahrini & Yusri Hazmi & Raja Masbar & Aliasuddin & Said Munzir, 2021. "Optimal Control Dynamic Relationships and Fiscal Policies in Indonesia’s Economy," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(1), pages 34-51.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal rules; Fiscal regimes; Fiscal sustainability; Public debt; Markov-switching; Model-based sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt

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