Download or read book When is Fiscal Adjustment an Illusion written by William Russell Easterly and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book When is Fiscal Adjustment an Illusion written by William Easterly and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A simple model shows that when an outside agent forces a reduction in a government's conventional deficit (debt accumulation), the government will respond by lowering its asset accumulation or by increasing hidden liabilities. That leaves net worth unchanged, so fiscal adjustment is an illusion.Fiscal adjustment is an illusion when it lowers the budget deficit or public debt but leaves the government's net worth unchanged, says Easterly.Conventional measures of the budget deficit largely measure the change in explicit public sector liabilities (debt). A more appropriate measure of the deficit would be the change in public sector net worth, but many criticize this concept as impossible to measure.Easterly takes a positive, rather than normative, approach to the net worth definition of fiscal balance.A simple model shows that when an outside agent forces a reduction in a government's conventional deficit (debt accumulation), the government will respond by lowering its asset accumulation or by increasing hidden liabilities. That leaves net worth unchanged, so fiscal adjustment is an illusion.He performs some simple empirical tests on the observational predictions of the model, examining a sample of countries with World Bank and International Monetary Fund adjustment programs and case studies of Maastricht Euro countries.The results confirm the model predictions: Fiscal adjustment in these countries was at least partly an illusion.This paper - a product of Macroeconomics and Growth, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study the political economy of policymaking. The author may be contacted at [email protected].
Download or read book Accounting Devices and Fiscal Illusions written by Timothy Irwin and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2012-03-28 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This proposed SDN surveys the various accounting stratagems which governments have used to meet fiscal targets—thereby sidestepping the need for true adjustment—and suggests remedial actions to limit this type of fiscal non-transparency. Types of creative accounting covered includes, for instance, currency swaps to hide a debt build-up (as in Greece in 2001–07), sale and leaseback of government property (for example, in the United States), assumption of long-term pension obligations in exchange for short-term revenue (Argentina, Hungary, and other Eastern European countries), use of public-private partnerships to defer the recognition of investment spending (for instance, Portugal), and reliance on non-cash compensation (such as pension rights) to reduce measured wage bills (in the United States, United Kingdom, etc.) As is evident from the examples given, these fiscal tricks have recently come under increased international scrutiny, highlighting the importance of good fiscal reporting, accounting, and transparency in general, for avoiding unpleasant surprises, ensuring government accountability, and containing fiscal vulnerabilities.
Download or read book Dispelling Fiscal Illusions written by Mr.Timothy Irwin and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2016-04-21 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When rights and obligations are not recognized as assets and liabilities on a government’s balance sheet, the government’s deficit can be reduced by selling off-balance-sheet assets or incurring off-balance-sheet liabilities. This paper examines how much progress has been made in recognizing assets and liabilities and thus dispelling the fiscal illusions that such transactions create. Looking at the accounts, government-finance statistics, and long-term fiscal projections produced in 28 advanced economies in the period since 2003, it finds good progress in the recognition of some assets and liabilities, such as accounts payable and simple financial assets, but much less in others, such as civil-service pensions.
Download or read book Fiscal Adjustment and Contingent Government Liabilities written by Hana Polackova Brixi and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Governments' contingent liabilities increase fiscal vulnerability, but are omitted in traditional measures of the current deficit. In the Czech Republic this omission may mean that fiscal adjustment has been overstated by 3 to 4 percent of annual GDP, with future budgets having to pay for past guarantees. The stock of existing contingent liabilities in Macedonia could add 2 to 4 percent of GDP to that country's future deficits.
Download or read book Fiscal Adjustment in EU Countries written by Mr.Kenji Moriyama and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2004-08-01 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Several European Union countries have recently implemented or are envisaging fiscal that operations improve budgetary figures but have no structural impact on government finances. This paper evaluates some of these measures using a balance sheet approach. In particular, it examines the degree to which reductions in government debt in EU countries has been accompanied by a decumulation of government assets. In the run-up to Maastricht (1997) it finds a strong correlation between changes in government liabilities and government assets, and larger declines in government assets in countries starting from higher public debt levels.
Download or read book Quasi fiscal activities hidden government subsidies and fiscal adjustment in Armenia written by Lev M. Freinkman and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fiscal Risks and the Quality of Fiscal Adjustment in Hungary written by Hana Polackova Brixi and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hungary's government has made great progress toward revealing the true fiscal cost of its budgetary and off-budget programs, containing the financial risks of its policies, and improving the management of public expenditures and contingent liabilities. Although far from complete, fiscal adjustment in Hungary has been successful not only in cutting the budget deficit but also in reducing less visible aspects of fiscal vulnerability.
Download or read book Fiscal Adjustment in Hungary written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Some Algebra of Fiscal Transparency written by Timothy Irwin and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2012-09-01 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accounting devices that artificially reduce the measured fiscal deficit can be analyzed as transactions involving unrecognized assets and liabilities. Different accounting systems recognize different sets of assets and liabilities and are thus vulnerable to different sets of devices. Some devices can be revealed by moving progressively from cash accounting to modified accrual accounting to full accrual accounting. Revealing all would require the publication of extended fiscal accounts in which all future cash flows give rise to assets or liabilities.
Download or read book World Bank Economists Forum written by Shantayanan Devarajan and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of nine papers presented at the first World Bank economists' forum, dealing with research on operational issues in the fields of health, education, fiscal policy, labour, trade and governance.
Download or read book Fiscal Adjustment in IMF Supported Programs written by International Monetary Fund. Independent Evaluation Office and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-11-17 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a cross-country sample of 169 IMF-supported programs and detailed studies of 15 programs, this evaluation report examines various aspects of fiscal adjustment in IMF-supported programs. It presents evidence that does not support some critics’ view that IMF-supported programs typically adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to fiscal adjustment, nor the perception that programs always involve austerity by targeting reductions in public spending. The report also proposes a number of recommendations for IMF surveillance and program design in the future.
Download or read book Fiscal Space written by Rathin Roy and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-31 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the deadline for achieving the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) less than a decade away, the uneven progress is raising important questions about the ability of the international community to 'scale up' its efforts to finance the goals. Securing adequate financing for development has thus become the most pressing issue of the development agenda. This groundbreaking volume, by leading development economists and practitioners, addresses the central concern for policymakers involved in long term planning for the MDGs: how to create 'fiscal space' for the MDGs and strengthen domestic resource mobilization for human development, while ensuring long-term sustainability and freedom from reliance on aid. By looking at the evidence with fresh perspectives, the authors present a novel approach by which fiscal policy can be made to work for the poor, for the long term. Published with UNDP and Revenue Watch.
Download or read book Journal of Economic Literature written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 650 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy in Stimulating Economic Activity written by Richard Hemming and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2002-12 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the effectiveness of fiscal policy. The focus is on the size of fiscal multipliers, and on the possibility that multipliers can turn negative (i.e., that fiscal contractions can be expansionary). The paper concludes that fiscal multipliers are overwhelmingly positive but small. However, there is some evidence of negative fiscal multipliers.
Download or read book Essays on Capital Income Taxation and Fiscal Adjustment written by Kenji Moriyama and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fiscal Policy Stabilization and Growth written by Guillermo E. Perry and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007-10-19 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fiscal policy in Latin America has been guided primarily by short-term liquidity targets whose observance was taken as the main exponent of fiscal prudence, with attention focused almost exclusively on the levels of public debt and the cash deficit. Very little attention was paid to the effects of fiscal policy on growth and on macroeconomic volatility over the cycle. Important issues such as the composition of public expenditures (and its effects on growth), the ability of fiscal policy to stabilize cyclical fluctuations, and the currency composition of public debt were largely neglected. As a result, fiscal policy has often amplified cyclical volatility and dampened growth. 'Fiscal Policy, Stabilization, and Growth' explores the conduct of fiscal policy in Latin America and its consequences for macroeconomic stability and long-term growth. In particular, the book highlights the procyclical and anti-investment biases embedded in the region's fiscal policies, explores their causes and macroeconomic consequences, and asesses their possible solutions.
