Tax Austerity: Does It Avert Solvency Crises?

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking
Year: 2024
Volume: 56
Issue: 6
Pages: 1515-1543

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Many high‐debt countries are adopting tax austerity, whereby governments raise the tax rate as their debt levels rise with the hope to dispel future solvency crises. This paper investigates the impact of tax austerity on government debt solvency. A solvency crisis occurs once adverse shocks push the debt above its effective debt limit, the maximum level of debt that the government can repay. I show that the position of the effective debt limit depends on tax austerity. I find that high‐debt countries like Italy that undergo tax austerity could lower their effective debt limit and induce a solvency crisis.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:jmoncb:v:56:y:2024:i:6:p:1515-1543
Journal Field
Macro
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29