Documentos de trabajo
The asymmetric behavior of the U.S. public debt
Fecha
2005-07-01Registro en:
0104-8910
Autor
Lima, Luiz Renato Regis de Oliveira
Sampaio, Raquel Menezes Bezerra
Institución
Resumen
In this paper we re-analyze the question of the U.S. public debt sustainability by using a quantile autoregression model. This modeling allows for testing whether the behavior of U.S. public debt is asymmetric or not. Our results provide evidence of a band of sustainability. Outside this band, the U.S. public debt is unsustainable. We also find fiscal policy to be adequate in the sense that occasional episodes in which the public debt moves out of the band do not pose a threat to long run sustainability.