Vertical Fiscal Imbalances and the Accumulation of Government Debt

November 20, 2014

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Inaki Aldasoro, and Mike Seiferling. Vertical Fiscal Imbalances and the Accumulation of Government Debt, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2014) accessed April 1, 2025

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

Delegating fiscal decision making power to sub-national governments has been an area of interest for both academics and policymakers given the expectation that it may lead to better and more efficient provision of public goods and services. Decentralization has, however, often occurred on the expenditure and less on the revenue side, creating “vertical fiscal imbalances” where sub-national governments’ expenditures are not financed through their own revenues. The mismatch between own revenues and expenditures may have consequences for public finance performance. This study constructs a large sample of general and subnational level fiscal data beginning in 1980 from the IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Yearbook. Extending the literature to the balance sheet approach, this paper examines the effects of vertical fiscal imbalances on government debt. The results indicate that vertical fiscal imbalances are relevant in explaining government debt accumulation suggesting a degree of caution when promoting fiscal decentralization. This paper also underlines the role of data covering the general government and its subectors for comprehensive analysis of fiscal performance.

Subject: Expenditure, Fiscal federalism, Fiscal policy, Fiscal stabilization, Fiscal stance, Public debt

Keywords: Authority index, Country, Fiscal consolidation effort, Fiscal decentralization, Fiscal federalism, Fiscal stabilization, Fiscal stance, GFSY, Global, Government, Government debt database, Government debt series, Government finance statistics yearbook, Government fragmentation, Government indebtedness, OECD country, Panel data, Public debt, Vertical fiscal imbalances, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

39
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2014/209
Stock No:

WPIEA2014209
ISBN:

9781484357552
ISSN:

1018-5941

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