The effect of government debt, external debt and their interaction on OECD interest rates

In the wake of the financial crisis there has been renewed focus on the importance of a country’s net external debt position in determining domestic interest rates and, relatedly, its vulnerability to a crisis. This paper extends the panel estimation of OECD countries described in Turner and Spinelli (2012) to investigate the effect of external debt and its interaction with government debt on the interest-rate-growth differential.

The Swedish Tax on Nitrogen Oxide Emissions: Lessons in Environmental Policy Reform - Environment Policy Paper No. 2

This case study describes the approach taken to reduce NOx emissions from combustion plants, the challenges encountered and the social, environmental and economic impacts. It concludes by discussing the wider lessons that are raised for other governments seeking to develop similar policy responses.

New econometric estimates of long-term growth effects of different areas of public spending

Using panel data for OECD countries, this study investigates the extent to which changes in government spending on education, health and other areas influence long-term growth.

Cross-country spillovers from fiscal consolidations

In many OECD countries, government debt reached levels over recent years that call for reduction over the medium to longer term to ensure public finance sustainability. This paper investigates the international transmission of fiscal consolidation shocks via trade flows.

Tax Policy Working Papers

Working papers from the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration of the OECD that cover the full range of the Centres work on taxation with the main focus on tax policy related issues.

Related Documents

• OECD Tax Policy Studies
• OECD Consumption Tax Trends Publications
• Fiscal Federalism Network Working Papers

Policies for inclusive urbanisation in China

Urbanisation in China has long been held back by various restrictions on land and internal migration but has taken off since the 1990s, as these impediments started to be gradually relaxed. People have moved in large numbers to richer cities, where productivity is higher and has increased further thanks to agglomeration effects.

Related Documents

• Economic Survey of China 2013

Fiscal devaluation – can it help to boost competitiveness?

The recent crisis has revealed large differences in external competitiveness between euro area member countries. Since nominal exchange rate devaluation is not an option for members of a currency area, governments in troubled member countries have been considering so-called fiscal devaluation, i.e. a shift from employers’ social security contribution to value added tax, as an alternative means to restore competitiveness.

Ireland's Carbon Tax and the Fiscal Crisis - Environment Working Paper No. 59

This paper describes the features of the tax, recounts the story of its interplay between fiscal adjustment and helping meet the obligations to raise taxes, and implications for competitiveness and carbon leakage, environmental effectiveness and equity issues, and draws conclusions regarding why it happened, and provides tentative insights for other countries in a similar situation.

Related Documents

• Environmental policy tools and evaluation

How to achieve growth- and equity-friendly fiscal consolidation?

Despite sustained efforts made in recent years to rein in budget deficits, a majority of OECD countries still face substantial fiscal consolidation needs. The choices made about which spending areas to curtail and which taxes to hike will have implications for near-term activity and long-term growth as well as for equity and the current account.

Japan's challenging debt dynamics

This working paper presents the background and the details of the simulations behind Box 1.4 of the May 2013 OECD Economic Outlook. A small simulation model is used to evaluate the contribution that the three pillars of the government’s strategy – fiscal consolidation, growth-boosting structural reforms and higher inflation – could make to reversing the rise in Japan’s public debt ratio.