中国财政赤字和国债政策的经济增长效应研究

本文通过构建一个VAR模型,选取财政赤字率和国债负债率为财政政策指标,来分析财政政策对经济增长和通货膨胀的影响。实证显示:财政赤字增加短期能够促进经济增长,但长期对经济增长无效,且不会引起通货膨胀;相反,负债率增加虽在短期内对经济增长影响不明显,但长期具有显著负影响,同时会导致通货紧缩。结论表明,国家应对金融危机的积极财政政策短期是有效刺激经济增长的,但是长期是无效的,尤其是通过大量发行国债弥补赤字扩大财政支出的政策,对经济增长有较大的负作用。因此,本文认为目前政府应该给市场更多自由,减少对市场的政策干预。     

Monetary Aggregates Targeting,Inflation Targeting and Inflation Stabilization in Ghana

The central bank of Ghana (BoG) has operated monetary aggregates targeting and inflation targeting since the 1980s, to ensure enhanced output growth, low unemployment and stable, low inflation. Under inflation targeting, the inflation rate averaged 13.26 per cent per annum between 2007 and 2015, compared with 29.22 per cent per annum under monetary aggregates targeting. The relatively lower inflation rates notwithstanding, an average inflation rate of 13.2 per cent per annum is far above the medium‐term target of 8 per cent. This paper has examined the effectiveness of monetary aggregates targeting and inflation targeting in keeping inflation at moderate levels. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model was applied to the data covering the period 1970–2015. The results show that monetary targeting has steered inflation to moderate levels only in the short run while inflation targeting has maintained low inflation rates in both short run and long run. But neither regime has kept inflation at stable levels and within the target band, due to the sluggish transmission of broad money supply and prime rate changes to inflation. We implore the monetary authorities to strengthen the institutional setup for steering short‐term interest rates in Ghana. They should also enhance the BoG Act 2002 (Act 612), to develop secondary anchors and rules around output, money supply and fiscal deficit. Finally, the monetary policy committee should monetary policy credibility and transparency through strengthening its communication framework.     

Debt policy under constraints: Philip II,the Cortes,and Genoese bankers

Under Philip II, Castile was the first country with a large nation‐wide domestic public debt. A new view of that fiscal system is presented that is potentially relevant for other fiscal systems in Europe before 1800. The credibility of the debt, mostly in perpetual redeemable annuities, was enhanced by decentralized funding through taxes administered by cities making up the Realm in the Cortes. The accumulation of short‐term debt depended on refinancing through long‐term debt. Financial crises in the short‐term debt occurred when the service of the long‐term debt reached the revenues of its servicing taxes. They were not caused by liquidity crises and were resolved after protracted negotiations in the Cortes by tax increases and interest rate reductions.     

Budget deficits and real interest rates: Updated empirical evidence on causality

Using error-correction model (ECM) estimation, the paper empirically examines the causality relationship between the federal government budget deficit and the ex ante real interest rate yield on high grade long term tax free municipal bonds in the U.S. To clarify this deficit or interest rate relationship, the budget deficit is measured by the primary budget deficit, which excludes net interest payments by the Treasury. In a model that includes federal personal income tax rates and net international capital flows, as well as money supply growth, the ECM estimates strongly suggest a bi-directional relationship between the primary budget deficit and the ex ante real interest rate yield. Budget deficits apparently do matter! William Simon's concerns were justified.The author is indebted to P. A. V. B. Swamy for ideas and helpful suggestions and Will Perry for data assembly and processing.     

Direct Inflation Targeting and Nominal Convergence: The Czech Case

This study analyses the impact of direct inflation targeting (DIT) on monetary policy credibility in the Czech Republic, as evidenced by asset prices. It examines the effect of changes in the two-week repo rate (the official interest rate) on short and long–term market interest rates. It assumes the asymmetry of information and the existence of a stationary stochastic equilibrium with full knowledge of authorities reaction function. We find that at short maturities, the coefficients for changes in the official repo rate are lower in the DIT period than in the pre-crisis period. This implies that the hypothesis of no increase in the transparency of monetary policy with the introduction of DIT can be rejected. We find that bond yields and interest rate swap rates with maturities of 5 years and longer did not react significantly to official interest rate decisions in the DIT period. This is consistent with the hypothesis that monetary policy was credible both before and after introduction of DIT.     

Taxing Times in Indonesia: The Challenge of Restoring Competitiveness and the Search for Fiscal Space

Indonesia’s economic growth picked up slightly in mid-2016 but remains below the level demanded by government and popular aspirations. Despite a plethora of reforms intended to increase efficiency and productivity, some policies are perverse and longstanding problems of implementation remain. The share of manufacturing has declined, the real exchange rate has appreciated, exports have dwindled, and growth has been trending downwards. The banking sector is stable but inefficient, with wide net interest margins and numerous barriers to competition. Trade protection, particularly in basic food commodities, has created high costs that weigh particularly heavily on the poor. Declining government revenues have placed increasing pressure on the public budget, even as the current administration aims to increase spending on infrastructure and welfare and to enhance productivity. In an effort to increase revenues, the government has announced a tax amnesty program and other measures. In addition, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the new finance minister, has taken steps to cut non-essential expenditure in order to secure high spending on infrastructure and at the same time keep within the 3% budget deficit limit stipulated by law. Although the overall debt situation is not yet alarming, declining revenues and budget cuts that do not fully reflect this decline are putting pressure on increasing debt levels. The government’s high-profile tax amnesty program was the major policy initiative implemented in the second half of 2016 that aimed to relieve this pressure. Despite widespread criticism of, and scepticism about, the tax amnesty (both within and outside Indonesia), its first phase had a much higher participation rate than most independent accounts expected. Revenues raised so far through the amnesty are less than 60% of the official target, but this is actually a strong result for the short term. The bigger question, however, is whether the amnesty is a key element of a more encompassing strategy to overhaul the system of taxation and tax administration.     

美国国债危机的根源及出路

虽然美国债务危机还没有爆发,但目前的财政赤字和国债规模过大、财政收支结构的刚性特征均阻碍了其财政赤字状况的改善、美元的国际货币地位也非可以永久持续,这使美国国债的可持续性问题面临挑战。在解决方案上,短期内美国政府可以通过技术性违约或者债务货币化将政府债务延后或者隐性处理,但是其代价是巨大的。因此美国应当从中长期根本上解决债务问题,中期需要建立严格的财政制度;长期上则需要协调好各个产业的发展,寻找新的经济增长点。     

INFLATION TARGETING AND THE FISHER EFFECT IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

The paper analyses the relationship between expected inflation and nominal interest rates during a period of inflation targeting in South Africa, i.e. from 2000 to 2005. Specifically, it investigates the Fisher hypothesis that nominal interest rates move one‐to‐one with expected inflation, leaving the real interest rate unaffected. The analysis distinguishes between a short‐run Fisher effect and a long‐run Fisher effect. Using cointegration and error correction models (for monthly data for the period April 2000 to July 2005), it was found that the short‐run Fisher hypothesis did not hold during the relevant period under the inflation targeting monetary policy framework in South Africa. This is attributed to a combination of the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB) control over short‐term interest rates and the effects of the monetary transmission mechanism. The long‐run Fisher hypothesis could not be confirmed in its strictest form: while changes in inflation expectations move in the same direction as the nominal long‐term interest rate. This suggests that monetary policy has an influence on the real long‐term interest rate, which has positive implications for general economic activity, thus confirming the credibility of the inflation targeting framework.     

How Can China Avoid the Middle Income Trap?

Many middle income economies have been unable to advance to become high income economies over a period of 50 years or longer, not due to the existence of middle income traps, but because of the overly broad income range in the definition of middle income economies. The middle income trap is, in essence, a growth trap, and refers to the situation in which a middle income economy experiences growth stagnation or a growth rate that is lower than that of high income economies. Nonetheless, it is hard to fully comprehend the formation of the trap solely based on growth theories. Historical data indicate that the middle income economies do not lack growth potential, and the real problem is that although their long‐term average growth rates are higher than those of the high income economies, their average growth rates over a business cycle or an even longer period of time often fall below those of the high income economies. The cause of this phenomenon is neither short‐term macroeconomic fluctuations nor long‐term growth potential, but the frequent occurrence of financial crises in middle income economies. As a middle income economy, China is also facing the risk of a financial crisis, and the key to avoiding the middle income trap is to guard against future financial crises, preventing unsound financial liberalization and mismanagement of the corporate debt ratio.     

The Demand for Money in Brunei

Based on data for the 1974–95 period this paper estimates demand for narrow money and broad money in Brunei using the error-correction specification. Short-run and long-run elasticities are estimated with respect to real income, interest rate, expected price level and liquidity. Narrow money is quite responsive to changes in real income and interest rate in both the short and long terms. Broad money is income inelastic regardless of the time horizon, however, it is interest inelastic in the short run but interest elastic in the long run. Price elasticity of money demand is negligible in the short run but quite significant in the long run. Changes in the proportion of commercial bank assets placed in foreign money markets do not seem to affect demand for narrow money but their effect on the demand for broad money is both direct and significant.     

Capital adjustment costs,time-to-build effects,and inflation nonneutrality

The paper examines how the presence of capital adjustment costs and time-to-build constraints weaken the Fisher effect and inflation neutrality, and hence attenuate the arbitrage opportunities implicit in intertemporal substitution and the investment decision. It is demonstrated that large and permanent changes in inflation affect nominal interest rates, intertemporal substitution, and investment choices differently than small or temporary changes. Small, transitory inflationary innovations will lower real interest rates, yet create no arbitrage opportunities since the benefits from these low rates will be insufficient relative to the adjustment costs implicit in altering investment. Large, permanent inflationary innovations will possess no real effects. The paper then presents empirical work to support the prediction that the expected inflation effect on nominal interest rates depends on the perceived size and permanence of the innovation.     

Réactions du Marché d’Actions aux Chocs sur les Taux d’Intérêt de Court Terme,le Cas d’un Marché Emergent: la Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM)

Abstract: Macroeconomics in general and interest rate policy in particular are believed, from a theoretical point of view, to act on stock market movements. This paper discusses this issue in the case of the West African stock market by studying the Regional Securities Exchange (la Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM)) stock market reactions to interest rates innovations. Our results, based on VAR analysis, show that the BRVM stock market does not react immediately to short‐run interest rates’ innovations. Nevertheless, backed reactions occur in imminent periods: at the earliest in the second period and at the latest in the sixth period according to VAR models used. Long‐term effects of short‐term interest rates’ innovations on stock prices returns depend on models specified, on the kind of interest rate and on data frequency. Thus, the long‐term effect of central bank rent rates’ innovations is relatively more important than the one related to interbank rate's innovations. The previous situation of the market is, however, the main determinant of the change of stock prices. Our results show also that stock prices and short‐run interest rates have a similar reaction to both exchange rate and inflation rate's innovations.     

International parity relationships between the USA and Japan

Based on multivariate cointegration analysis we show that key parity conditions between the USA and Japan do not hold as stationary relations and that this is related to the nonstationarity of the real exchange rate. The latter seems almost exclusively to be related to similar nonstationary movements in interest rates. We obtain strong empirical results suggesting a reversal of the standard linkages, as predicted by the term structure of interest rates and the Fisher condition, between short and long interest rates and interest rates and inflation. Our findings may be important for the conduct of monetary policy, which is usually thought to be transmitted through short-term interest rates. Altogether, the empirical results suggest that it is agents’ behavior in the foreign exchange market, rather than in the goods market, which is crucial for the determination of the exchange rate.     

Unsustainable sovereign debt—is the Euro crisis only the tip of the iceberg?

As a direct effect of the financial crisis in 2008, public debt began to accumulate rapidly, eventually leading to the European sovereign debt crisis. However, the dramatic increase in government debt is not only happening in European countries. All major G7 countries are experiencing similar developments. What are the implications of this kind of massive deficit and debt policy for the long term stability of these economies? Are there limits in debt-ratios that qualitatively change policy options? While theory can easily illustrate these limits, where are these limits in real economies? This paper examines the relationship between sovereign debt dynamics and capital formation, and accounts for the effects of the 2008 financial crisis on debt sustainability for the four largest advanced economies. We contribute to the literature on fiscal sustainability by framing the problem in an OLG model with government debt, physical capital, endogenous interest rates, and exogenous growth. For the calibration exercise we extract data from the OECD for Germany as a stabilization anchor in Europe, the US, the UK, and Japan for almost two decades before the 2008 crisis. Except for intertemporal preferences, all parameters are drawn or directly derived from the OECD database, or endogenously determined within the model. The results of the calibration exercise are alarming for all four countries under consideration. We identify debt ceilings that indicate a sustainable and unsustainable regime. For 2011 all four economies are either close to, or have already passed the ceiling. The results call for a dramatic readjustment in budget policies for a consolidation period and long-term fiscal rules that make it possible to sustain sufficient capital intensity so that these economies can maintain their high income levels. Current conditions are already starting to restrict policy choices. However, the results also make it very clear that none of these economies would survive a second financial crisis such as the one in 2008.     

中国财政赤字的通货膨胀效应

文章主要以1996年第1季度至2015年第3季度的居民消费价格指数CPI、财政赤字、利率和货币供应量的季度同比增长率等数据为基础,通过构建时变参数向量自回归(TVP-VAR) 模型,对我国财政赤字的通货膨胀效应进行了检验,并探讨了货币当局和财政当局的主导权归属问题。主要得出了二方面结论：一方面是现阶段财政赤字在短期内具有“凯恩斯效应”,而从长期看,既遵循“李嘉图等价”原理,又具有微弱的“挤入效应”;另一方面是财政当局虽占优于货币当局,但财政赤字需要配合货币政策才能影响价格水平。据此,向政府提出了“新常态”时期的政策建议,即政府在短期内可以通过赤字财政的方式诱导适度通胀来实现去库存,从供给侧引导经济增长,同时也要保持货币政策偏紧,增强人民银行的独立性,进一步优化财政收支结构。     

Absence of safe assets and fiscal crisis

This paper develops a fiscal crisis model that explains a mechanism under which low interest rates can coexist with Japan's large outstanding debt. The key idea is that when there is a strong home bias in the asset portfolio of domestic bondholders, these investors turn out to have no access to any assets that hedge fiscal risk. This explains why domestic investors do not request a risk premium on government bonds. In this environment, the interest rate and the default probability are low, and the government can sustain its large debt even under adverse fiscal conditions. As the interest rate does not rise fully to reflect the risk premium, the low interest rate is not always a signal of sound fiscal conditions. The welfare implications of financial market reform are mixed. This reform can improve welfare so long as the government can sustain the debt, but at the same time, it makes it difficult to sustain the debt because the interest rate rises. Quantitative easing is effective in lowering the risk premium.     

日本灾后财政和债务前景展望

日本是发达经济体中财政赤字和政府债务负担最严重的国家。接二连三的欧洲主权债务危机和美国主权债务问题使市场不得不对日本是否将是下一个债务危机发生国产生隐忧。在2008年全球金融危机爆发前,日本的债务结构和低利率环境还可以使其维系高额的财政赤字和债务负担。然而2008年之后,在全球经济疲软和日本经济萎靡不振的背景下,日本处在了主权债务风险一直上升的阶段。更令日本祸不单行的是"3.11"大地震、海啸和核泄露事件,这一连串灾难更令日本在财政赤字和举债问题上如履薄冰。如果日本政府还不尽快实施有效的债务管理政策和可信的财政整顿计划,短期日本经济会难于运转,中长期日本将爆发主权债务危机。     

Government budget deficits,nominal andex ante real long-term interest rates in the U.K., 1960:1–1990:2

This paper explores the impact of government budget deficits on the U.K. nominal and ex ante real long-term interest rates over the period from 1960:1 to 1990:2 utilizing an open and closed economy IS-LM model. An open economy IS-LM model indicates that nominal and ex ante real long-term interest rates are affected by the expected rate of inflation, the real money stock, the real government budget deficit, the real government spending, and the real balance of trade.The evidence presented suggests that increases in the U.K. budget deficits do contribute significantly to increases in nominal and ex ante real long-term interest rates. This implies that rising nominal and ex ante real long-term interest rates, as a result of high government budget deficits, would crowd out private investment and deter capital formation and long-term economic growth.     

Reputational recovery under political instability: Public debt in Portugal, 1641–83

This article examines the reputation recovery of Portugal's public debt during the war of liberation against the former Habsburg ruler. Using novel datasets on long- and short-term debt and nominal interest rates, this study provides evidence that the sovereign borrower used debt credibility to build a pact of regime in a revolutionary context with implications for financing the war. The Portuguese kings followed an implicit budget balance rule as a reputational scheme, which made Portugal an exceptional case of military success with a low debt-to-GDP ratio and low interest rates. These conclusions contribute to the literature in various attributes of war finance, debt management, and state-making by showing that default avoidance could be as important to military success as fiscal capacity.     

Japan’s quantitative monetary easing policy: Effect on the level and volatility of yield spreads

We examine the effects on the level and volatility of yield spreads of the Quantitative Monetary Easing Policy (QMEP) of the Bank of Japan (BoJ) implemented from March 19, 2001 to March 9, 2006. We adopt an Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model to analyze daily data for the five year duration of QMEP. The purpose of QMEP was to reduce short-term interest rate expectations with the goal of bringing down long term interest rates to stimulate the economy. Under QMEP, the operational target of monetary policy was taken as the current account balances (CABs) of financial institutions held at the BoJ. In support of QMEP effectiveness, we find that the policy to raise CABs was indeed associated with a decrease in yield spreads across all maturities. At the same time, the policy may have increased the volatility of yield spreads at short and medium time horizons, perhaps due to unevern demand for government security issues that nevertheless left confidence in the future of low interest rates intact. Preserving liquidity at or above the CABs target range was found to decrease yield spreads.