Dynamics between the budget deficit and the government debt in the United States: a nonlinear analysis

Ahmed Haydory Akbar ()
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Ahmed Haydory Akbar: Missouri State University, Department of Economics, 901 S National Avenue, Springfield, 65897, MO, USA

Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, 2020, vol. 25, issue 3, 93-109

Abstract: This paper empirically investigates the dynamics between budget deficit and government debt in the U.S. using two different measures of the budget deficit: the current budget deficit and cyclically-adjusted budget deficit. A threshold Vector autoregression (VAR) model is estimated to explore the dynamics in different regimes using quarterly data from 1947:Q1 to 2017:Q3. The specification test rejects a linear VAR model against the threshold VAR. When we use the current budget deficit, regime 1 resemble governments prioritize minimizing budget deficit and debt, whereas, regime 2 resemble otherwise. When we use the cyclically adjusted budget deficit, regime 1 resemble economic expansions, whereas, regime 2 resemble recessions. The impulse responses show evidence of asymmetry and counter-cyclicality. The impulse responses also indicate that an increase in the debt dictate the government’s response towards minimizing the budget deficit and tend to prioritize budget deficit less when the economy expands.

Keywords: budget deficit; government debt; impulse responses; output gap; threshold VAR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E31 E32 E37 E61 E63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1515/snde-2018-0087

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