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The Budget Deficit And Economic Performance: A Survey

Author

Listed:
  • ALI SALMAN SALEH

    (School of Business, Monash University Malaysia, No. 2, Jalan Kolej, Bandar Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia)

  • CHARLES HARVIE

    (School of Economics and Information Systems, University of Wollongong, Australia)

Abstract

The relationship between budget deficits and macroeconomic variables (such as growth, interest rates, trade deficit, exchange rate, among others) represents one of the most widely debated topics among economists and policy makers in both developed and developing countries. However, the purpose of this paper is to review the extensive literature to such a relationship, concentrating on theoretical debates and empirical studies, in order to derive substantive conclusions, which can be beneficial in the macroeconomics area; policy analysis; or in terms of constructing or developing a macroeconomic model for analyzing the impact of budget deficits on macroeconomic variables. The majority of these studies regress a macroeconomic variable on the deficit variable. These studies are cross-country and utilize time series data. In general the key outcomes from the studies presented in this paper indicated that both the method of financing and the components of government expenditures could have different effects. Therefore, it is crucial for the government to distinguish between consumption and investment expenditures especially when the government is in the process of evaluating the impact of fiscal policy on private investment and output growth or in the process of cutting expenditures to reduce the fiscal imbalances in the country. Even though the overall results from the empirical literature with respect to the impact of public investment on private investment and growth are ambiguous, the bulk of the empirical studies find a significantly negative effect of public consumption expenditure on growth, while the effects of public investment expenditure (such as on education, healthcare) are found to be positive although less robust. The key findings from these studies is important in particular for developing countries to be aware of the importance of government investment expenditures in the area of education, healthcare, infrastructure to long-term economic growth and the benefits from which are an important contributor to welfare and well-being. The key outcome from all of the studies presented in this paper while investigating the relationship between the budget deficit and current account deficit showed strong evidence in both developed and developing countries towards supporting the Keynesian proposition (conventional view) which suggests that an increase in the budget deficit would induce domestic absorption and, hence import expansion, causing a current account deficit. The key findings from the empirical studies investigating the relationship between the budget deficit and interest rates indicated strong evidence towards supporting the Keynesian model of a significant and positive relationship between budget deficits and interest rates. The major outcomes from the empirical studies examining the relationship between budget deficits and inflation showed strong evidence that the budget deficit financed through monetization and a rising money supply could lead to inflation.

Suggested Citation

  • Ali Salman Saleh & Charles Harvie, 2005. "The Budget Deficit And Economic Performance: A Survey," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 50(02), pages 211-243.
  • Handle: RePEc:wsi:serxxx:v:50:y:2005:i:02:n:s0217590805001986
    DOI: 10.1142/S0217590805001986
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anonymous, 1962. "International Monetary Fund," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 619-631, July.
    2. Anonymous, 1962. "International Monetary Fund," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 230-231, January.
    3. Anonymous, 1962. "International Monetary Fund," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(4), pages 876-878, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Philip Doris Syombua, 2021. "Budget deficit-macroeconomic variables nexus in Kenya," Journal of Economics and Management, Sciendo, vol. 43(1), pages 270-292, May.
    2. Magdalena Osińska & Tadeusz Kufel & Marcin Błażejowski & Paweł Kufel, 2020. "Modeling mechanism of economic growth using threshold autoregression models," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 58(3), pages 1381-1430, March.
    3. Artatrana Ratha, 2010. "Twin Deficits or Distant Cousins? Evidence from India," Working Papers 2010-5 Classification- F , Saint Cloud State University, Department of Economics.
    4. Eregha, Perekunah B. & Aworinde, Olalekan B. & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Modeling twin deficit hypothesis with oil price volatility in African oil-producing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Busato, Francesco & Varlese, Monica & Ulloa Severino, Claudia, 2022. "Public debt heterogeneity at country level: an empirical analysis," MPRA Paper 113812, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Magdalena Osinska & Tadeusz Kufel & Marcin Blazejowski & Pawel Kufel, 2016. "Modelling and Forecasting Business Cycle in CEE Countries using a Threshold Approach," Dynamic Econometric Models, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 16, pages 145-164.
    7. Harvie, Charles & Saleh, Ali Salman, 2007. "Lebanon’s Fiscal Crisis and Economic Reconstruction after War: the case of a bridge too far?," Economics Working Papers wp07-04, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    8. Marashdeh, Hazem & Saleh, Ali Salman, 2006. "Revisiting Budget and Trade Deficits in Lebanon: A Critique," Economics Working Papers wp06-07, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    9. Harvie, Charles & Saleh, Ali Salman, 2008. "Lebanon's economic reconstruction after the war: A bridge too far?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 857-872.
    10. Joseph Mawejje & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2022. "Macroeconomic determinants of fiscal policy in East Africa: a panel causality analysis," Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(53), pages 105-123, February.
    11. Elisha Mavodyo, 2020. "A Revival of Budget Deficit and Economic Growth," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2020/04, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    12. Mawejje, Joseph & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2022. "The determinants and cyclicality of fiscal policy: Empirical evidence from East Africa," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 55-70.
    13. Çatık, Abdurrahman Nazif & Gök, Barış & Akseki, Utku, 2015. "A nonlinear investigation of the twin deficits hypothesis over the business cycle: Evidence from Turkey," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 181-196.
    14. Eric Wang & Eskander Alvi, 2011. "Relative Efficiency of Government Spending and Its Determinants: Evidence from East Asian Countries," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 1(1), pages 3-28, June.
    15. Osińska, Magdalena & Kufel, Tadeusz & Blazejowski, Marcin & Kufel, Pawel, 2016. "Does economic growth really depend on the magnitude of debt? A threshold model approach," MPRA Paper 71476, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Artatrana Ratha, 2012. "Twin Deficits or Distant Cousins? Evidence from India1," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 13(1), pages 51-68, March.
    17. Chowdhury, Khorshed & Saleh, Ali Salman, 2007. "Testing the Keynesian Proposition of Twin Deficits in the Presence of Trade Liberalisation: Evidence from Sri Lanka after War: the case of a bridge too far?," Economics Working Papers wp07-09, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    18. Yu Hsing, 2015. "Determinants of the Government Bond Yield in Spain: A Loanable Funds Model," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-9, July.
    19. Perveen, Asma & Munir, Kashif, 2017. "Impact of Total, Internal and External Government Debt on Interest Rate in Pakistan," MPRA Paper 83427, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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