How Does the US Government Finance Fiscal Shocks?

Antje Berndt, Hanno Lustig and Şevin Yeltekin
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Sevin Yeltekin ()

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2012, vol. 4, issue 1, 69-104

Abstract: We develop a method for identifying and quantifying the fiscal channels that help finance government spending shocks. We define fiscal shocks as surprises in defense spending and show that they are more precisely identified when defense stock data are used in addition to aggregate macroeconomic data. Our results show that in the postwar period, about 9 percent of the US government's unanticipated spending needs were financed by a reduction in the market value of debt and more than 70 percent by an increase in primary surpluses. Additionally, we find that long-term debt is more effective at absorbing fiscal risk than short-term debt. (JEL E62, H56, and H63)

JEL-codes: E62 H56 H63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
Note: DOI: 10.1257/mac.4.1.69
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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Related works:
Working Paper: How Does the U.S. Government Finance Fiscal Shocks? (2010)
Working Paper: How does the U.S. government finance fiscal shocks?
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