Spikes in inflation are often blamed on government borrowing to deliver cash handouts. But it’s more complicated than that. The real issue lies in borrowing without a plan to balance the books.
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Articles on Government debt
Displaying 1 - 20 of 59 articles
The NSW government wants GST to be allocated according to population. But doing so ignores different service delivery needs between states.
The Andrews government has made a decent first step to reduce Victoria’s mountain of debt by $30 billion over the next decade.
If the US fails to increase its debt ceiling by June 1, it could be forced into an embarrassing – and hugely costly – default on its obligations.
Reading economic news can be confusing. Here’s how to understand what the news is – and isn’t – telling you.
Ghana’s finance ministry is struggling to build consensus on the country’s debt burden.
African countries are essentially placed in the position of a supplicant appealing to the kindness of creditors.
The government’s energy support package for UK business raises serious concerns about debt sustainability.
The double standard goes back to 1929, when Labor had the misfortune to be elected 12 days before the Wall Street crash that set off the Great Depression.
Normally investors view the future as more uncertain than the present. When that turns on its head, it’s often a bad omen.
The sums aren’t adding for South Africa on either the spending or revenue side. It’s a problem that’s developed over time with no action being taken.
The US debt ceiling is a form of self-delusion: a limit imposed on a borrower by the borrower itself. Australia had one until the Coalition and the Green us, abolished it.
Republicans and Democrats have negotiated a draft deal that may avert a financial crisis, but why does the US have a debt ceiling in the first place?
By under-promising and over-delivering, Grant Robertson has pulled off a budget that displeases the fewest people.
Inflation, interest rates and booming mining royalties give the Morrison government scope to ignore the deficit daleks.
Governments like ours choose to borrow, they don’t have to.
Now that we are recovering from recession, there’s no telling how low we could push the unemployment rate. One estimate is 3.5%.
Resolution of South Africa’s fiscal crisis depends on faster economic growth which must be led by private investment. Fiscal consolidation is necessary but without growth debt will not stabilise.
Massive borrowing to fund NZ’s economic recovery due to COVID-19 cannot be written off without the risk of worsening the crisis it was designed to meet.
While necessary during the crisis, government borrowing isn’t costless. Longer term, it might depress living standards.
Top contributors
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Professor of Economics, UNSW Sydney
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Professor of Economics and National Senior Teaching Fellow, Griffith University
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Professor of Finance, University of Liverpool
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Part-Time Professor of Economics, The New School
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Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
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Professor of Economics, Director of the Australian Institute for Business and Economics, The University of Queensland
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Director, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology
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Sir John Bunting Chair of Public Administration, Australian National University
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Professor of Institutional Economics, RMIT University
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Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies
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Lecturer in Accounting, Finance and Economics, Griffith University
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Vice Chancellor's Fellow at Victoria University and Adjunct Professor of Economics, Victoria University
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Senior Lecturer, Department of Banking and Finance, Monash University
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Professor of Economics, University of Georgia
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Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy and Law, Boston University
