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Are EU budget deficits stationary?

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  • Mark Holmes
  • Jesús Otero
  • Theodore Panagiotidis

Abstract

In this paper, we test for the stationarity of European Union budget deficits over the period 1971 to 2006, using a panel of thirteen member countries. Our testing strategy addresses two key concerns with regard to unit root panel data testing, namely (i) the presence of cross-sectional dependence among the countries in the panel and (ii) the identification of potential structural breaks that might have occurred at different points in time. To address these concerns, we employ an AR-based bootstrap approach that allows us to test the null hypothesis of joint stationarity with endogenously determined structural breaks. In contrast to the existing literature, we find that the EU countries considered are characterised by fiscal stationarity over the full sample period irrespective of us allowing for structural breaks. This conclusion also holds when analysing sub-periods based on before and after the Maastricht treaty.
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  • Mark Holmes & Jesús Otero & Theodore Panagiotidis, 2010. "Are EU budget deficits stationary?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 767-778, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:38:y:2010:i:3:p:767-778
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-009-0289-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Phiri, 2018. "How sustainable are fiscal budgets in the Kingdom of Swaziland?," Working Papers 1810, Department of Economics, Nelson Mandela University, revised Mar 2018.
    2. Jacobo Campo-Robledo & Luis Melo-Velandia, 2015. "Sustainability of Latin American fiscal deficits: a panel data approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 889-907, November.
    3. Lyócsa, Štefan & Výrost, Tomáš & Baumöhl, Eduard, 2011. "Unit-root and stationarity testing with empirical application on industrial production of CEE-4 countries," MPRA Paper 29648, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Juan Carlos Cuestas & Karsten Staehr, 2013. "Fiscal shocks and budget balance persistence in the EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(22), pages 3211-3219, August.
    5. Trachanas, Emmanouil & Katrakilidis, Constantinos, 2013. "The dynamic linkages of fiscal and current account deficits: New evidence from five highly indebted European countries accounting for regime shifts and asymmetries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 502-510.
    6. Tsong, Ching-Chuan & Wu, Chien-Wei & Chiu, Hsien-Hung & Lee, Cheng-Feng, 2013. "Covariate unit root tests under structural change and asymmetric STAR dynamics," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 101-112.
    7. Ching-Chuan Tsong & Cheng-Feng Lee & Li-Ju Tsai & Te-Chung Hu, 2016. "The Fourier approximation and testing for the null of cointegration," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 1085-1113, November.
    8. Athanasios Athanasenas & Constantinos Katrakilidis & Emmanouil Trachanas, 2014. "Government spending and revenues in the Greek economy: evidence from nonlinear cointegration," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 41(2), pages 365-376, May.
    9. Baumöhl, Eduard & Výrost, Tomáš & Lyócsa, Štefan, 2011. "Are we able to capture the EU debt crisis? Evidence from PIIGGS countries in panel unit root framework," MPRA Paper 30334, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Baharumshah, Ahmad Zubaidi & Soon, Siew-Voon & Lau, Evan, 2017. "Fiscal sustainability in an emerging market economy: When does public debt turn bad?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 99-113.
    11. Ahmad, Ahmad Hassan & Aworinde, Olalekan Bashir & Martin, Christopher, 2015. "Threshold cointegration and the short-run dynamics of twin deficit hypothesis in African countries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 80-91.
    12. Despina Petreska & Nikica Mojsoska-Blazevski, 2013. "The Feldstein-Horioka Puzzle And Transition Economies," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 58(197), pages 23-46, April – J.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Heterogeneous dynamic panels; Fiscal sustainability; Mean reversion; Panel stationarity test; C33; F32; F41;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • F32 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics

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