Fiscal policy seeks to equilibrate the public sector's financing needs with the private sector's demand for investment and a sustainable balance of payments. Correct measurement of the public sector's net use of resources is therefore an important prerequisite for managing the macroeconomy. This...

This paper surveys various measures of the fiscal deficit. Issues addressed include: the definition of the deficit in a public sector of a given coverage (the conventional deficit, the current deficit, the domestic deficit, the operational deficit, etc.); the coverage and composition of the...