Do fiscal rules decrease public investment? Evidence from European panel data

IF 0.8 Q3 ECONOMICS

European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies-Intervention Pub Date : 2020-08-18 DOI:10.4337/ejeep.2020.0070

S. Wijsman, C. Crombez

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of fiscal rules on public investment. Economists argue that fiscal rules decrease public investment, as it is easier for governments to lower public investment than current expenditures. This paper presents an empirical assessment of the relationship between fiscal rules and public investment using European panel data covering the 1997–2016 period. In contrast to previous work, we focus on national fiscal rules and use the European Commission's Fiscal Rules Strength Index to measure the constraints imposed on public finances. This index captures 230 national fiscal rules and reflects the annual strength of fiscal rules in each European Union member state. In line with our expectations, we find that fiscal rules decrease public investment. We run some additional models in which the results are mixed.

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财政规则会减少公共投资吗?来自欧洲面板数据的证据

本文研究财政规则对公共投资的影响。经济学家认为，财政规则会减少公共投资，因为对政府来说，减少公共投资比减少经常性支出更容易。本文利用欧洲1997-2016年期间的面板数据，对财政规则与公共投资之间的关系进行了实证评估。与以前的工作不同，我们将重点放在国家财政规则上，并使用欧盟委员会的财政规则强度指数来衡量对公共财政施加的约束。该指数涵盖了230个国家的财政法规，反映了每个欧盟成员国财政法规的年度力度。与我们的预期一致，我们发现财政规则减少了公共投资。我们运行了一些其他的模型，其中的结果是混合的。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies-Intervention ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

1.70

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention (EJEEP) is a peer-reviewed journal which serves as a forum for studies in macroeconomic theory, economic institutions and economic policies. The managing editors aim for productive debates involving one or more variants of heterodox economics, and invite contributions acknowledging the pluralism of research approaches. The submission of both theoretical and empirical work is encouraged. The managing editors contend that a wide variety of institutional and social factors shape economic life and economic processes. Only a careful study and integration of such factors into economics will lead to theoretical progress and to competent economic policy recommendations. This was clearly demonstrated by the inadequacy of orthodox economics, based on neoclassical foundations, to provide suitable explanations and responses to recent financial and economic crises.