Fiscal Policy in Latin America: Countercyclical and Sustainable at Last?

Christian Daude, Angel Melguizo and Alejandro Neut

No 291, OECD Development Centre Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: This paper analyses fiscal policy for several economies in Latin America, from the early nineties to the 2009 crisis. We present original estimates of cyclically-adjusted public revenues for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay implementing the standardised OECD methodology and extending it to include commodity cycles, which have a direct and significant effect on the fiscal balance of several Latin American countries. Based on these estimates, we evaluate the size of automatic tax stabilisers and the cyclicality of discretionary fiscal policy. Additionally, we highlight the uncertainty stemming from the estimation of the output gap, due to large and simultaneous cyclical, temporary and permanent shocks in several Latin American economies. Cette étude analyse la politique budgétaire dans huit économies d’Amérique Latine, à partir du début des années 1990 et jusqu’à 2009. Nous étudions les estimations des composantes structurelles et cyclique des recettes publiques en l’Argentine, le Brésil, le Chili, la Colombie, le Costa Rica, le Méxique, le Pérou et l’Uruguay, en utilisant la méthodologie de l’OCDE, et en ajoutant l’effet des prix des matières premières, qui ont un impact significatif sur le solde budgétaire en Amérique Latine. A partir de ces résultats, l’étude évalue l'ampleur des stabilisateurs automatiques, et l’stabilisation de la politique budgétaire discrétionnaire. Finalement, nous soulignons l’incertitude de l’estimation de l’écart de production en raison des larges chocs cycliques, temporaires et permanents dans plusieurs économies d’Amérique Latine.

Keywords: business cycle; cycle économique; finances publiques; fiscal policy; politique budgétaire; public finances (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E62 H30 H60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-08-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac, nep-pbe and nep-pub
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:devaaa:291-en

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