6533b85bfe1ef96bd12ba9e7

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Can re-regulation of the financial sector strike back public debt?

Luca AgnelloRicardo M. SousaRicardo M. Sousa

subject

MacroeconomicsEconomics and Econometricsmedia_common.quotation_subjecteducationDebt-to-GDP ratioSocial SciencesFinancial ratioMonetary economicsFinancial re-regulationDebt0502 economics and businessFinancial analysisEconomics050207 economicsDebt levels and flowshealth care economics and organizationsFinancial liberalisation050205 econometrics media_commonPublic debtReform05 social sciencesCiências Sociais::Economia e Gestão1. No povertySettore SECS-P/02 Politica EconomicaExternal debthumanitiesReformsReversalDebt-to-equity ratioReversals8. Economic growth:Economia e Gestão [Ciências Sociais]Internal debt

description

This paper analyzes the impact of financial sector policy changes on the dynamics of public debt. Using a panel of 89 countries from 1973 to 2005, we find that while the implementation of (large) financial liberalisation policies significantly raises the public debt growth rate, the adoption of financial re-regulation measures leads to a mild reduction of public debt. Looking at the different typologies of financial sector policy changes, we show that stricter banking supervision, privatisations and restrictions to international capital flows contribute to a fast decline of the growth rate of public debt. In contrast, the removal of entry barriers and the elimination of interest rate controls boost public debt growth. Finally, our results confirm that financial re-regulation is more likely to succeed when inflation is high, while large financial liberalisation measures significantly raise public debt when economic growth is low. Our results are robust to various estimation techniques and model specifications and to the inclusion of different control variables.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2015-12-01
10.1016/j.econmod.2015.07.018http://hdl.handle.net/10447/147225