IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/saq/wpaper/18-20.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Budget deficits, public debt and the Ricardian Equivalence

Author

Listed:
  • Claudio Sardoni

    (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome)

Abstract

The paper criticizes the so-called Ricardian equivalence (RE) and its implications for the analysis of the problem of the public debt. It is argued that the validity of the RE hinges on an unsatisfactory view of the economic role of the state as a mere `parasite' and on an unwarranted extension of the micro-economic analysis of debts to the macro-economic level. When dealing with the problem of the ratio of the public debt to GDP, the acceptance of the RE translates into the assumption that the economy's rate of growth is independent of public spending, taxes and debt. On the grounds of the critique of the RE, the paper presents a differ- ent approach, based on the idea that an adequate composition of public spending can ensure a stable public debt ratio even though the government runs a primary deficit. According to such approach, public outlays should be mostly devoted to productive expenditures, i.e. those which a ect the equilibrium rate of growth thanks to their positive impact on overall productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudio Sardoni, 2020. "Budget deficits, public debt and the Ricardian Equivalence," Working Papers 18/20, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    • Handle: RePEc:saq:wpaper:18/20
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.diss.uniroma1.it/sites/default/files/allegati/DiSSE_Sardoni_wp18_2020.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barro, Robert J, 1989. "The Ricardian Approach to Budget Deficits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 37-54, Spring.
    2. Olivier Blanchard, 2019. "Public Debt and Low Interest Rates," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(4), pages 1197-1229, April.
    3. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    4. B. Douglas Bernheim, 1987. "Ricardian Equivalence: An Evaluation of Theory and Evidence," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1987, Volume 2, pages 263-316, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Barro, Robert J, 1990. "Government Spending in a Simple Model of Endogenous Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 103-126, October.
    6. Hicks, John, 2017. "A Market Theory of Money," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198796237.
    7. Devarajan, Shantayanan & Swaroop, Vinaya & Heng-fu, Zou, 1996. "The composition of public expenditure and economic growth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 313-344, April.
    8. Seater, John J, 1993. "Ricardian Equivalence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(1), pages 142-190, March.
    9. Yellen, Janet L, 1989. "Symposium on the Budget Deficit," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 17-21, Spring.
    10. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-I-Martin, 1992. "Public Finance in Models of Economic Growth," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(4), pages 645-661.
    11. Heijdra, Ben J., 2017. "Foundations of Modern Macroeconomics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 3, number 9780198784135.
    12. A. Bhatt Hakhu & C. Sardoni, 2021. "Public expenditure and growth: the Indian case," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 18(1), pages 77-101, April.
    13. Alfred Greiner & Bettina Fincke, 2009. "Public Debt and Economic Growth," Dynamic Modeling and Econometrics in Economics and Finance, Springer, number 978-3-642-01745-2, March.
    14. George A. Akerlof, 2007. "The Missing Motivation in Macroeconomics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 5-36, March.
    15. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Stanley Fischer, 1989. "Lectures on Macroeconomics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262022834, April.
    16. Buchanan, James M, 1976. "Barro on the Ricardian Equivalence Theorem," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(2), pages 337-342, April.
    17. Eisner, Robert, 1989. "Budget Deficits: Rhetoric and Reality," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 73-93, Spring.
    18. Bernheim, B Douglas, 1989. "A Neoclassical Perspective on Budget Deficits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 55-72, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Sardoni, Claudio, 2021. "The public debt and the Ricardian equivalence: Some critical remarks," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 153-160.
    2. Joseph Mawejje & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "The determinants of fiscal deficits: a survey of literature," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 67(3), pages 403-417, September.
    3. António Afonso, 2001. "Government indebtedness and european consumers behaviour," Working Papers Department of Economics 2001/12, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    4. Tarlok Singh, 2017. "Ricardian equivalence and the public and private saving nexus in India," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(36), pages 3579-3598, August.
    5. Tatsuji Hayakawa & Paul Zak, 2002. "Debt, Death and Taxes," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 9(2), pages 157-173, March.
    6. Elmendorf, Douglas W. & Gregory Mankiw, N., 1999. "Government debt," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 25, pages 1615-1669, Elsevier.
    7. Martin Zagler & Georg Dürnecker, 2003. "Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 397-418, July.
    8. Aqdas Ali Kazmi, 1994. "Private Consumption, Government Spending, Debt Neutrality: Resolving Kormendi- Feldstein-Modigliani Controversy," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1055-1071.
    9. Brunila, Anne, 1996. "Fiscal policy and private consumption: Saving decisions: Evidence from Finland," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 28/1996, Bank of Finland.
    10. M. Luisa Fuster Pérez, 1993. "La Hipótesis de equivalencia ricardiana: un análisis empírico en los países de la Comunidad Europea," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 17(3), pages 495-506, September.
    11. George W. Evans & Seppo Honkapohja & Kaushik Mitra, 2012. "Does Ricardian Equivalence Hold When Expectations Are Not Rational?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(7), pages 1259-1283, October.
    12. Joseph Mawejje & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2022. "The determinants and cyclicality of fiscal policy: Empirical evidence from East Africa," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 169, pages 50-70.
    13. repec:zbw:bofrdp:1996_028 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Brittle, Shane, 2009. "Ricardian Equivalence and the Efficacy of Fiscal Policy in Australia," Economics Working Papers wp09-10, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    15. Brunila, Anne, 1996. "Fiscal policy and private consumption : Saving decisions : Evidence from Finland," Research Discussion Papers 28/1996, Bank of Finland.
    16. Gianluigi Giorgioni & Ken Holden, 2003. "Ricardian equivalence, expansionary fiscal contraction and the stock market: a VECM approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(12), pages 1435-1443.
    17. Brunila, Anne, 1997. "Current income and private consumption : Saving decisions : Testing the finite horizon model," Research Discussion Papers 6/1997, Bank of Finland.
    18. repec:zbw:bofrdp:1997_006 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. T. D. Stanley, 1998. "New Wine in Old Bottles: A Meta‐Analysis of Ricardian Equivalence," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 64(3), pages 713-727, January.
    20. Reiter, Michael, 1999. "Ricardian equivalence with uninformed consumers?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 747-758, November.
    21. Brunila, Anne, 1997. "Current income and private consumption: Saving decisions: Testing the finite horizon model," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 6/1997, Bank of Finland.
    22. Smetters, Kent, 1999. "Ricardian equivalence: long-run Leviathan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 395-421, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:saq:wpaper:18/20. 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: Pierluigi Montalbano (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dtrosit.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.