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The Effects of Fiscal Policy in New Zealand: Evidence from a VAR Model with Debt Constraints

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This paper investigates the macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy in New Zealand using a structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) model. The model is the five-variable structural vector autoregression (SVAR) framework proposed by Blanchard and Perotti (2005), further augmented to allow for the possibility that taxes, spending and interest rates might respond to the level of the debt over time. We examine the dynamic responses of output, inflation and the interest rate to changes in government spending and revenues and analyse the contribution of shocks to New Zealand’s business cycle for the period 1983:1-2010:2. We find that the effects of government expenditure shocks in New Zealand appear to be positive but small in the short-run at the cost of higher interest rates and lower output in the medium to long-run. The sign of the effects of tax policy changes are less clear cut, but again the effects on GDP appear similarly modest. Past fiscal policy is analysed through a historical decomposition of the shocks in the model. This suggests that discretionary fiscal policy has had a generally pro-cyclical impact on GDP over the last fifteen years, and a material impact on the real long-term interest rate. A fiscal expansion has a positive but limited impact on inflation.

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  • Oscar Parkyn & Tugrul Vehbi, 2013. "The Effects of Fiscal Policy in New Zealand: Evidence from a VAR Model with Debt Constraints," Treasury Working Paper Series 13/02, New Zealand Treasury.
    • Handle: RePEc:nzt:nztwps:13/02
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    Cited by:

    1. Sebastian Gechert & Ansgar Rannenberg, 2014. "Are Fiscal Multipliers Regime-Dependent? A Meta Regression Analysis," IMK Working Paper 139-2014, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    2. Groenewold, Nicolaas, 2018. "Australia saved from the financial crisis by policy or by exports?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 118-135.
    3. Andrew Binning, 2024. "Calculating Government Consumption Multipliers in New Zealand Using an Estimated DSGE Model," Treasury Working Paper Series 24/01, New Zealand Treasury.
    4. BOUNADER, Lahcen, 2016. "Is there a crowding-out effect in the Moroccan context ? Evidence from structural VAR Analysis," MPRA Paper 69275, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Stanova, Nadja, 2015. "Effects of fiscal shocks in new EU members estimated from a SVARX model with debt feedback," MPRA Paper 63148, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Martin Fukač & Robert Kirkby, 2017. "Accounting for Uncertainty in Public Debt Targets," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 50(1), pages 89-102, March.
    7. Anna Hamer-Adams & Martin Wong, 2018. "Quantifying fiscal multipliers in New Zealand: The evidence from SVAR models," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Analytical Notes series AN2018/05, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    8. TRIFU, Cosmin & BLAGA, Florin & MIHAI, Georgian Danut & NEACSU, George Alexandru & BICHIR-GHELASE, Antonela, 2022. "The Impact Of The Fiscal Policy Change On The Main Macroeconomic Variables," Journal of Financial and Monetary Economics, Centre of Financial and Monetary Research "Victor Slavescu", vol. 10(1), pages 93-97, October.
    9. Jamie Murray, 2013. "Parameter Uncertainty and the Fiscal Multiplier," Treasury Working Paper Series 13/19, New Zealand Treasury.
    10. Razzak, Weshah, 2013. "An Empirical Study of Sectoral-Level Capital Investments in New Zealand," MPRA Paper 52461, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. D. J. Penzin & E. T. Adamgbe, 2019. "Estimation of Fiscal Multipliers and Its Macroeconomic Impact: The Case of Nigeria," Economic and Financial Review, Central Bank of Nigeria, vol. 57(2), June.
    12. Alfred A. Haug & India Power, 2022. "Government Spending Multipliers in Times of Tight and Loose Monetary Policy in New Zealand," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 98(322), pages 249-270, September.
    13. Yifu Yang & Sheng Zhang & Nannan Zhang & Zuhui Wen & Qihao Zhang & Meng Xu & Yingfan Zhang & Muchuan Niu, 2022. "The Dynamic Relationship between China’s Economic Cycle, Government Debt, and Economic Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-14, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal policy; business cycle fluctuations; vector autoregression; debt feedback;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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