Fiscal Limits, External Debt, and Fiscal Policy in Developing Countries

March 31, 2014

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Huixin Bi, Wenyi Shen, and Susan S. Yang Fiscal Limits, External Debt, and Fiscal Policy in Developing Countries, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2014) accessed September 20, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper studies fiscal policy effects in developing countries with external debt and sovereign default risks. State-dependent distributions of fiscal limits are simulated based on macroeconomic uncertainty and fiscal policy specifications. The analysis shows that expected future revenue plays an important role in the low fiscal limits of developing countries, relative to those of developed countries. External debt carries additional risks since large devaluation of the real exchange rate can suddenly raise default probabilities. Consistent with majority views, fiscal consolidations are counterproductive in the short and medium runs. When an economy approaches its fiscal limits, government spending can be less expansionary than in a low-debt state. As more revenue is required to service debt in a high-debt state, higher tax rates raise the economic cost of increasing consumption, reducing the fiscal multiplier.

Subject: Expenditure, Fiscal consolidation, Fiscal policy, Government consumption, National accounts, Public debt

Keywords: Debt distribution, Debt state, Developing countries, Eastern Europe, Exchange rate, External debt, Fiscal consolidation, Fiscal limits, Fiscal policy, Fiscal policy effect, Government consumption, Government spending, Government spending effect, Government spending multiplier, Government spending share, Government spending shock, Risk premium, Sovereign default risk, State-dependent fiscal multiplier, Terms of trade, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

37
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2014/049
Stock No:

WPIEA2014049
ISBN:

9781475521665
ISSN:

1018-5941

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