Rising Government Debt
Causes and Solutions for a Decades-Old Trend
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4029338 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pierre Yared ((Pierre Yared is a Professor of Business at Columbia Business School and a Director of the Richard Paul Richman Center for Business, Law, and Public Policy at Columbia University, New York, New York. )., corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 115-140 |
| Publication date | 2019-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Economic Perspectives (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0895-3309 • E-ISSN: 1944-7965 |
| Publisher | American Economic Association (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1257/jep.33.2.115 |
| OpenAlex | W2889089766 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 27 |
| References cited | 70 |
Over the past four decades, government debt as a fraction of GDP has been on an upward trajectory in advanced economies, approaching levels not reached since World War II. While normative macroeconomic theories can explain the increase in the level of debt in certain periods as a response to macroeconomic shocks, they cannot explain the broad-based long-run trend in debt accumulation. In contrast, political economy theories can explain the long-run trend as resulting from an aging population, rising political polarization, and rising electoral uncertainty across advanced economies. These theories emphasize the time-inconsistency in government policymaking, and thus the need for fiscal rules that restrict policymakers. Fiscal rules trade off commitment to not overspend and flexibility to react to shocks. This tradeoff guides design features of optimal rules, such as information dependence, enforcement, cross-country coordination, escape clauses, and instrument versus target criteria
Debt · Debt-to-GDP ratio · Economics · External debt · Fiscal policy · Government Debt · Macroeconomics · Monetary economics · Normative · Political science · Politics · Population · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Global Financial Crisis and Policies · Monetary Policy and Economic Impact
Future-Oriented Fiscal Policy
Cumhuriyetin Kuruluşundan Bugüne Türkiye’de Dış Borçlanma
Reelection, growth and public debt
Incumbency and expectations of fiscal rule compliance
Fiscal rules and economic cycles
Consistent flexibility
Political tenure, term limits and corruption
Forms of new democracy
Fiscal Rules Cause Lower Debt
Public debt and income inequality in an endogenous growth model with elastic labor supply
The mass politics of public debt, immigration, and austerity
Political competition, spatial interactions, and default risk of local government debts in China
Public debt and income inequality in times of austerity
Do balanced budget practices of U.S. states make sense? Alternatives from the Eurozone
Solar power play
Trading budget deficits for public investment
Are citizens willing to reduce public debt? Beliefs, information and policy preferences
The political economy of public enterprise dividends
Distance matters
A Theory of Fiscal Responsibility and Irresponsibility
Commitment versus Flexibility with Costly Verification
Strategies and consequences of local fiscal consolidation
The Judiciary as a fiscal policy tool? Budget stress and judicial decision-making in Brazil
Rational inattention and politics
Age and support for public debt reduction
A Sustentabilidade Fiscal E as Regras Brasileiras
A robust examination of Covid-19 and country risk
Do Fiscal Rules Matter?
Public debt and growth
Why a Stubborn Conservative would Run a Deficit
Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting
The Optimal Degree of Commitment to an Intermediate Monetary Target
Optimal fiscal and monetary policy in an economy without capital
The Political Business Cycle after 25 Years
Going to extremes
From Financial Crash to Debt Crisis
A Positive Theory of Fiscal Deficits and Government Debt
Constitutional Rules and Fiscal Policy Outcomes
The Next Generation of the Penn World Table
Political Credit Cycles
Are Government Bonds Net Wealth
On the Determination of the Public Debt
The Politics of Intergenerational Redistribution
The Political Economy of Benefits and Costs
Private and Public Supply of Liquidity
Debt, Deficits, and Finite Horizons
The Nature of Countercyclical Income Risk
Optimal Taxation without State‐Contingent Debt
Phillips Lecture – Why Some Times Are Different
An Analysis of the Stability and Growth Pact
It’s Nothing Personal
Transparency, Political Polarization, and Political Budget Cycles in OECD Countries
Optimal Taxation in Theory and Practice
Public Debt Overhangs
| Unique citing works | 27 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,5 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 27 |