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Vorträge und Posterpräsentationen (ohne Tagungsband-Eintrag):

J. Bröthaler, M. Getzner, G. Haber:
"Sustainability of municipal debt - an Austrian case study of sub-national debt management";
Vortrag: NOeG 2012, Annual Meeting of the Austrian Economic Association, Wien; 18.05.2012 - 19.05.2012.



Kurzfassung deutsch:
Austrian municipalities face manifold challenges regarding the sustainability of their budgetary policies, especially concerning public debt. On the one hand, municipalities are closely monitored and supervised by upper-level governments. Local borrowing is confined to pre-defined cases with respect to extra-ordinary expenditure. On the other hand, municipal discretion over expenditure and revenue is limited. In the current paper, we test whether municipalities´ budgetary policies were sustainable in the sense of Bohn´s (1998) sustainability test. We find that the debt limits were quite effective resulting in stationary debt levels, and in significant and sufficient reactions of the municipal primary surplus to increases in public debt. However, in order to achieve such sustainable policies, municipalities have widely cut investments in local infrastructure. From a long-term perspective, such development is problematic with respect to the quality and quality of available vital infrastructure.

Presentation:
- General concepts on sustainability of public debt and expenditure
- Regulations on municipal debt
- Data and descriptive analysis of municipal debt in Austria 1992-2010
- Econometric results on sustainability of municipal debt in Austria
- Discussion and conclusions

Kurzfassung englisch:
Austrian municipalities face manifold challenges regarding the sustainability of their budgetary policies, especially concerning public debt. On the one hand, municipalities are closely monitored and supervised by upper-level governments. Local borrowing is confined to pre-defined cases with respect to extra-ordinary expenditure. On the other hand, municipal discretion over expenditure and revenue is limited. In the current paper, we test whether municipalities´ budgetary policies were sustainable in the sense of Bohn´s (1998) sustainability test. We find that the debt limits were quite effective resulting in stationary debt levels, and in significant and sufficient reactions of the municipal primary surplus to increases in public debt. However, in order to achieve such sustainable policies, municipalities have widely cut investments in local infrastructure. From a long-term perspective, such development is problematic with respect to the quality and quality of available vital infrastructure.

Presentation:
- General concepts on sustainability of public debt and expenditure
- Regulations on municipal debt
- Data and descriptive analysis of municipal debt in Austria 1992-2010
- Econometric results on sustainability of municipal debt in Austria
- Discussion and conclusions

Schlagworte:
Municipal public debt, off-budget debt, sustainability of fiscal policies, political economy of fiscal policies

Erstellt aus der Publikationsdatenbank der Technischen Universität Wien.