Successful Fiscal Adjustments: Does choice of fiscal instrument matter?

Steinar Holden and Nina Larsson Midthjell ()
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Nina Larsson Midthjell: Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo, Postal: Department of Economics, University of Oslo, P.O Box 1095 Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway

No 23/2013, Memorandum from Oslo University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We examine fiscal adjustment episodes in 24 OECD countries in order to find how austerity affects debt and growth, and whether the choice of fiscal instrument matters for the results. Inuential existing studies argue that spending cuts are more likely to successfully reduce debt and enhance economic growth than tax increases. Our main innovations over these studies are to better account for initial conditions and to employ a novel and more precise measure of actual changes in fiscal policy. We find that whether a fiscal adjustment is successful in reducing debt depends on whether the adjustment was sufficiently large to remove the budget deficit. We find no indication that it matters whether the adjustment is achieved via spending cuts or tax increases, and this conclusion holds also for the effect on economic growth.

Keywords: fiscal; policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H20 H30 H50 H62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2013-11-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg and nep-pbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Working Paper: Successful Fiscal Adjustments - Does Choice of Fiscal Instrument Matter? (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:osloec:2013_023

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