An Exploration of the Private Sector Response to Changes in Government Saving Across OECD Countries
IMF Working Papers, May 1, 2001
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Alun H. Thomas
- Published: May 1, 2001
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451849066.001
Summary
- Several recent papers have examined the response of national saving to changes in fiscal policy.
- This paper uses knowledge about the intergenerational fiscal position of a country to determine whether this information helps to explain cross country differences in the nature of the response.
- Using OECD data the paper finds that:
- In countries in intergenerational fiscal balance, the private sector completely offsets fiscal policy changes.
- In other countries the private sector offset is only partial.
- In countries with large intergenerational fiscal imbalances, strong fiscal consolidation packages reduce the impact of changes in fiscal policy on national saving.
Key findings and empirical results
- Private sector behavior differs by intergenerational fiscal position:
- Complete private-sector offset where countries are in intergenerational fiscal balance.
- Partial private-sector offset where countries are not in intergenerational fiscal balance.
- Interaction with fiscal consolidation:
- In countries with large intergenerational fiscal imbalances, strong fiscal consolidation packages reduce the impact of changes in fiscal policy on national saving.
- Data source: OECD data.
Themes and concepts emphasized
- Expenditure
- Fiscal consolidation
- Fiscal policy
- Fiscal stance
- National accounts
- Private savings
- Intergenerational fiscal balance
- Ricardian effects
- Saving rate
- Expenditure coefficient
- Government saving
- Saving position