Is there a Case for Sophisticated Balanced-Budget Rules?

Antonio Fatás

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

关键词: fiscal policy;    business cycles;    fiscal rules;   

DOI  :  https://doi.org/10.1787/604620771056

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: OECD iLibrary

【 摘 要 】

This paper reviews the arguments in favor of excluding investment from fiscal policy constraints (the adoption of a “golden rule”). The paper starts by reviewing the goals and motivations of fiscal policy rules. From this analysis, it is clear that answering the question of whether investment should be excluded from those constraints can only be done once the goals and logic of those constraints are made clear. The strongest arguments in favor of a “golden rule” are those of transparency and intergenerational fairness. Other arguments, such as the possibility that public investment pays for itself, do not receive strong empirical support. The paper concludes that for a policy rule to be sustainable and have enough political and public support, it is necessary to have a proper, transparent and, therefore, different accounting treatment for investment. Whether this implies that investment should be completely excluded from fiscal policy constraints is left as an open question.