IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/nbr/nberch/9573.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

The Deteriorating Fiscal Situation and an Aging Population

In: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Dekle

Abstract

Japan's deteriorating fiscal situation has attracted international attention. I assess what current Japanese government policies mean for the future of public debt and the economy in general, given the inevitable aging of the population. I review how Japan got into this current fiscal mess, and then perform an analysis of some debt dynamics. With unchanged fiscal policies, Japan's public debt will rise to between 260% and 380% of GDP in 2030, and to between 700% and 1300% in 2040 -- clearly unsustainable levels. For the debt to be sustainable, significant increases in taxes, or cuts in government spending are necessary.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Dekle, 2003. "The Deteriorating Fiscal Situation and an Aging Population," NBER Chapters, in: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, pages 71-88, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:9573
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c9573.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ono, Hiroshi & Rebick, Marcus, 2002. "Impediments to the Productive Employment of Labor in Japan," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 500, Stockholm School of Economics.
    2. Takero Doi & Takeo Hoshi, 2003. "Paying for the FILP," NBER Chapters, in: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, pages 37-70, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. David M. Cutler & James M. Poterba & Louise M. Sheiner & Lawrence H. Summers, 1990. "An Aging Society: Opportunity or Challenge?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 21(1), pages 1-74.
    4. Lee G. Branstetter & Yoshiaki Nakamura, 2003. "Is Japan's Innovative Capacity in Decline?," NBER Chapters, in: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, pages 191-224, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Toshihiro Ihori & Toru Nakazato & Masumi Kawade, 2003. "Japan's Fiscal Policies in the 1990s," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 325-338, March.
    6. repec:fth:harver:1490 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Mitsuhiro Fukao, 2003. "Financial Sector Profitability and Double-Gearing," NBER Chapters, in: Structural Impediments to Growth in Japan, pages 9-36, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Ishi, Hiromitsu, 2000. "Making Fiscal Policy in Japan: Economic Effects and Institutional Settings," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199240715.
    9. International Monetary Fund, 2000. "Japan: Selected Issues," IMF Staff Country Reports 2000/144, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Hiroko Ishii & Erika Wada, 1998. "Local Government Spending: Solving the Mystery of Japanese Fiscal Packages," Working Paper Series WP98-5, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jan Jacobs & Kazuo Ogawa & Elmer Sterken & Ichiro Tokutsu, 2020. "Public Debt, Economic Growth and the Real Interest Rate: A Panel VAR Approach to EU and OECD Countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(12), pages 1377-1394, March.
    2. Alan J. Auerbach & Maurice Obstfeld, 2005. "The Case for Open-Market Purchases in a Liquidity Trap," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 110-137, March.
    3. Ogawa, Kazuo & Imai, Kentaro, 2014. "Why do commercial banks hold government bonds? The case of Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 201-216.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dekle, Robert, 2004. "Financing consumption in an aging Japan: The role of foreign capital inflows and immigration," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 506-527, December.
    2. Kenneth N. Kuttner & Adam S. Posen, 2002. "Passive Savers and Fiscal Policy Effectiveness in Japan," Working Paper Series WP02-2, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    3. Barseghyan, Levon, 2010. "Non-performing loans, prospective bailouts, and Japan's slowdown," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 873-890, October.
    4. Takeo Hoshi & Anil K. Kashyap, 2004. "Japan's Financial Crisis and Economic Stagnation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 3-26, Winter.
    5. Mr. Tim Callen & Warwick J. McKibbin & Nicoletta Batini, 2006. "The Global Impact of Demographic Change," IMF Working Papers 2006/009, International Monetary Fund.
    6. Sumner J. La Croix & Akihiko Kawaura, 2005. "Institutional Change in Japan: Theory, Evidence, and Reflections," Economics Study Area Working Papers 82, East-West Center, Economics Study Area.
    7. Kenneth N. Kuttner & Adam S. Posen, 2001. "The Great Recession: Lessons for Macroeconomic Policy from Japan," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 32(2), pages 93-186.
    8. Robert Dekle, 2003. "Japan's Deteriorating Fiscal Situation," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 4(04), pages 16-20, October.
    9. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2007. "Population Ageing, Taxation, pensions and Health Costs," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 10(2), pages 79-97.
    10. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2091 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Peter S. Yoo, 1994. "The baby boom and international capital flows," Working Papers 1994-031, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    12. Axel Börsch‐Supan & Alexander Ludwig & Joachim Winter, 2006. "Ageing, Pension Reform and Capital Flows: A Multi‐Country Simulation Model," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 73(292), pages 625-658, November.
    13. George Halkos & Roman Matousek & Nickolaos Tzeremes, 2016. "Pre-evaluating technical efficiency gains from possible mergers and acquisitions: evidence from Japanese regional banks," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 47-77, January.
    14. Adema, Y. & Meijdam, A.C. & Verbon, H.A.A., 2006. "Beggar Thy Thrifty Neighbour : The International Spillover Effects of Pensions Under Population Ageing," Other publications TiSEM efe74edb-cddd-4a64-8889-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    15. de la Croix, David & Docquier, Frederic & Liegeois, Philippe, 2007. "Income growth in the 21st century: Forecasts with an overlapping generations model," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 621-635.
    16. Hirakata, Naohisa & Sudo, Nao & Takei, Ikuo & Ueda, Kozo, 2016. "Japan's financial crises and lost decades," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 31-46.
    17. Ross Guest & Ian Mcdonald, 2003. "Vintage versus homogeneous capital in simulations of population ageing: does it matter?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 149-153.
    18. Lex Meijdam & Harrie Verbon, 1996. "Aging and political decision making on public pensions," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 9(2), pages 141-158, June.
    19. Francisco Buera & Benjamin Moll & Yongseok Shin, 2013. "Well-Intended Policies," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(1), pages 216-230, January.
    20. Araujo, Luis & Hu, Tai-Wei, 2018. "Optimal monetary interventions in credit markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 455-487.
    21. Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Willi Leibfritz & Willi Leibfritz, 1999. "An International Comparison of Generational Accounts," NBER Chapters, in: Generational Accounting around the World, pages 73-102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:9573. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.