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La théorie budgétaire du niveau des prix : un bilan critique (The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level, a critical assessment) (in French with English summary)

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Abstract

This article presents a survey of the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level. According to it, there are two stable regimes of economic policies: one, traditional, where the monetary authorities control inflation and where the fiscal authorities must be concerned with their intertemporal balance. The other, where the monetary policy is passive and where the fiscal authorities can be non-ricardian, i.e. unconcerned with public debt: the price level adjusts the real debt to the future discounted primary surpluses. The FTPL is presented following its historical developments: from its precursors (Sargent, Begg...) to its recent promoters (Leeper, Woodford); from its theoretical critics (Buiter) to its empirical criticisms. The FTPL is neither consistent with the observed behaviour of monetary authorities, nor with the empirical sluggishness of inflation (this latter result is an original one). However, it highlights the need to analyse the strategic interactions between fiscal and monetary policies.

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  • Jerome Creel & Henri Sterdyniak, 2000. "La théorie budgétaire du niveau des prix : un bilan critique (The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level, a critical assessment) (in French with English summary)," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2000-03, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    • Handle: RePEc:fce:doctra:0003
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    Cited by:

    1. Jérôme Creel & Paola Veroni & Francesco Saraceno, 2005. "Discretionary Policy Interactions and the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level: A SVAR Analysis on French Data," Working Papers hal-03597711, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fiscal theory of the price level; inflation rate; monetary policy; fiscal policy; public debt;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E17 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt

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