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Austerity and Private Debt

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  • MATHIAS KLEIN

Abstract

This study provides empirical evidence that the costs of austerity crucially depend on the level of private indebtedness. In particular, fiscal consolidations lead to severe contractions when implemented in high private‐debt states. Contrary, fiscal consolidations have no significant effect on economic activity when private debt is low. These results are robust to alternative definitions of private‐debt overhang, the composition of fiscal consolidations, and controlling for the state of the business cycle and government debt overhang. I show that deterioration in household balance sheets is important to understand private debt‐dependent effects of austerity.

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  • Mathias Klein, 2017. "Austerity and Private Debt," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(7), pages 1555-1585, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:49:y:2017:i:7:p:1555-1585
    DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.12424
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    Cited by:

    1. Georgantas, Georgios & Kasselaki, Maria & Tagkalakis, Athanasios, 2023. "Τhe effects of fiscal consolidation in OECD countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    2. Kose, M. Ayhan & Kurlat, Sergio & Ohnsorge, Franziska & Sugawara, Naotaka, 2022. "A cross-country database of fiscal space," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    3. Oliver Hülsewig & Horst Rottmann, 2022. "Euro Area Periphery Countries' Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy Surprises," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(3), pages 544-568, June.
    4. Marco Bernardini & Selien De Schryder & Gert Peersman, 2020. "Heterogeneous Government Spending Multipliers in the Era Surrounding the Great Recession," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 304-322, May.
    5. Klein, Mathias & Winkler, Roland, 2019. "Austerity, inequality, and private debt overhang," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 89-106.
    6. Olesya V. Polyakova, 2023. "Эффективность Фискальной Политики В Разных Условиях Функционирования Экономики," Russian Economic Development (in Russian), Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, issue 10, pages 45-52, October.
    7. Javier Andrés & José E. Boscá & Javier Ferri & Cristina Fuentes‐Albero, 2022. "Households' Balance Sheets and the Effect of Fiscal Policy," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(4), pages 737-778, June.
    8. Martin Harding & Mathias Klein, 2019. "Monetary Policy and Household Deleveraging," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1806, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Auerbach, Alan & Gorodnichenko, Yuriy & McCrory, Peter B. & Murphy, Daniel, 2022. "Fiscal multipliers in the COVID19 recession," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    10. Olesya V. Polyakova, 2023. "Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy in Different Economic Conditions [Эффективность Фискальной Политики В Разных Условиях Функционирования Экономики]," Russian Economic Development, Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy, issue 10, pages 45-52, October.
    11. Choi, Sangyup & Shin, Junhyeok, 2023. "Household indebtedness and the macroeconomic effects of tax changes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 22-52.
    12. Yuliya Demyanyk & Elena Loutskina & Daniel Murphy, 2019. "Fiscal Stimulus and Consumer Debt," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(4), pages 728-741, October.
    13. Klein, Mathias & Polattimur, Hamza & Winkler, Roland, 2022. "Fiscal spending multipliers over the household leverage cycle," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    14. Tufan Ekici & Martin Geiger & Marios Zachariadis, 2024. "Understanding Expectations Formation for Hand-to-Mouth Households: Lessons from the Financial Crisis," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 05-2024, University of Cyprus Department of Economics, revised 05 Nov 2024.
    15. Gabriel, Ricardo Duque & Klein, Mathias & Pessoa, Sofia, 2022. "The Political Costs of Austerity," Working Paper Series 418, Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden).
    16. Eminidou, Snezana & Geiger, Martin & Zachariadis, Marios, 2023. "Public debt and state-dependent effects of fiscal policy in the euro area," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    17. Karamysheva, Madina & Skrobotov, Anton, 2022. "Do we reject restrictions identifying fiscal shocks? identification based on non-Gaussian innovations," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    18. An, Sungbae & Kim, Hyosang & Kim, Seung-Hyun & Yang, Da Young & Lee, Jinhee & Cho, Ko Un & Kim, Wongi & Kim, Jinill, 2021. "포스트 코로나 시대 주요국의 통화·재정정책 방향과 시사점(hanges, Challenges and Implications of Fiscal and Monetary Policy Directions in the Post Pandemic Era)," Policy Analyses 21-15, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
    19. Martin Harding & Mathias Klein, 2022. "Monetary policy and household net worth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 44, pages 125-151, April.
    20. Georgios Georgantas & Maria Kasselaki & Athanasios Tagkalakis, 2022. "The short-run effects of fiscal adjustment in OECD countries," Working Papers 308, Bank of Greece.
    21. Kim, Wongi, 2023. "Private sector debt overhang and government spending multipliers: Not all debts are alike," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    22. Pan, Wei-Fong, 2023. "Household debt in the times of populism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 202-215.
    23. Angrick, Stefan & Nemoto, Naoko, 2018. "Breaking Par: Short-Term Determinants of Yen-Dollar Swap Deviations," ADBI Working Papers 859, Asian Development Bank Institute.

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