In this paper, we investigate the effects of cross-sectional disturbance correlation in a homogenous panel-data unit root test. As reported by other authors, the unit root test has incorrect size in the presence of cross-sectional correlation. We suggest that a previously known estimator can be...

Recently, it has been suggested that the effect of government expenditure on private consumption is dependent on the level of public debt. More specifically, a higher public debt implies a less Keynesian response in private consumption. In this paper we investigate if this theory is supported by...

This paper analyzes a New Keynesian model with Rule-of-Thumb consumers (ROTC) as in Galí et al.(2007) and a fiscal policy which levies a proportional income tax. We …nd that, when the share of ROTC is above a specified threshold and di¤erently from the usual Leeper (1991) result, the...

This paper examines the effects of fiscal policy on private consumption. The paper evaluates the assumption that the effects of fiscal policy are dependent on the public sector's financial situation, which changes the private sector's income expectations. For this purpose regression equations...

This analysis was performed with data from 10 European Union countries in the period 1962-86 and is devoted to the changes in the structure of private consumption with respect to eight commodity groups. We began with eleven different approaches from which we chose four. In turn we then compared...

In this paper, we study the size distortions of the KPSS test for stationarity when serial correlation is present and samples are small and medium-sized. It is argued that two distinct sources of the size distortions can be identified. The first source is the finite-sample distribution of the...

Case studies have claimed that private consumption growth is higher during fiscal contractions due to the very fact that government spending is cut. Indeed, neoclassical theory has this implication. This paper uses regression analysis of a panel of 19 OECD countries and shows that this is not...

The Ricardian equivalence theorem has been widely debated since (at least) the seventies. The theorem states that househoolds should not change their consumption path in response to changed timing of taxes, given the path of government consumption. In the paper, theoretical models giving rise to...

This Occasional Paper provides an overview of the main challenges facing Hong Kong SAR as it continues to become more closely integrated with the mainland of China. Section I provides an overview of recent macroeconomic developments and the main policy issues in Hong Kong SAR. Section II...

This Selected Issues paper for Ireland highlights that fiscal consolidation resulted in a tremendous reduction in public debt from nearly 100 percent of GDP in 1991 to about 30 percent in 2004. This has reflected a combination of policy decisions and economic circumstances. Excluding 2001, when...