Skip to main content
Log in

On the Sustainability of Austrian Budgetary Policies

  • Published:
Empirica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The question whether fiscal policies are sustainable in the long run has received much attention in the international political agenda. In this paper, we investigate whether Austrian fiscal policy has been sustainable during the last four decades. We apply several econometric approaches to test for the sustainability of fiscal policies. The results are ambiguous. For the period of 1960–1974, we find evidence for sustainable fiscal policies. For the period 1975–1999, the results indicate that Austrian fiscal policy was not sustainable in the long run. If Austrian policy-makers do not change their budgetary policy in the future, the long-term budget constraint of the state will be violated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barro, R. J. (1986) 'U.S. Deficits Since World War I', Scandinavian Journal of Economics 88, 195–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohn, H. (1998) 'The Behavior of U.S. Public Debt and Deficits', Quarterly Journal of Economics 113, 949–963.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breuss, F. (1999) 'Wozu fiskalische Tragfähigkeit in der Wirtschafts-und Währungsunion der Europäischen Union?', in R. Neck and R. Holzmann, eds., Was wird aus Euroland? Makroökonomische Herausforderungen und wirtschaftspolitische Antworten. pp. 92–159. Manz, Vienna.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Grauwe, P. (2000) Economics of Monetary Union. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flood, R. P. and Garber, P. M. (1980) 'Market Fundamentals versus Price Level Bubbles: The First Tests', Journal of Political Economy 88, 745–770.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greiner, A. and Semmler, W. (1999) 'An Inquiry into the Sustainability of German Fiscal Policy: Some Time-Series Tests', Public Finance Review 27, 220–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gros, D. and Thygesen, N. (1998) European Monetary Integration. Addison Wesley-Longman, Harlow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, J. D. and Flavin, M. A. (1986) 'On the Limitations of Government Borrowing: A Framework for Empirical Testing', American Economic Review 76, 808–819.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neck, R. and Getzner, M. (2000) 'Politisch-ökonomische Einflüsse auf das Staatsschuldenwachstum: Eine Fallstudie für Österreich', in R. Neck, R. Holzmann and F. Schneider, eds., Staatsschulden am Ende? Ursachen, Wirkungen und Zukunftsperspektiven. pp. 43–73. Manz, Vienna.

    Google Scholar 

  • Papadopoulos, A. P. and Sidiropoulos, M. G. (1999) 'The Sustainability of Fiscal Policies in the European Union', International Advances in Economic Research 5, 289–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trehan, B. and Walsh, C. E. (1991) 'Testing Intertemporal Budget Constraints: Theory and Applications to U.S. Federal Budget and Current Account Deficits', Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 23, 206–223.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox, D. W. (1989) 'The Sustainability of Government Deficits: Implications of the Present-Value Borrowing Constraint', Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 21, 291–306.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Getzner, M., Glatzer, E. & Neck, R. On the Sustainability of Austrian Budgetary Policies. Empirica 28, 21–40 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010927632670

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010927632670

Navigation