Defining the Government's Debt and Deficit

Irwin, Timothy

doi:10.1002/9781119158424.ch6

Cited by 1 publication

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“…A technical fix for a political problem -The redistributive and the marketable state Off-balance-sheet policies emerge because Maastricht debt and deficit indicators are based on the general government sector, which includes only 'redistributive' policies that are financed by national income, while it excludes 'marketable' policies, which are profitable and thus considered part of the broader public sector (Irwin, 2015). 3 The distinction is not always straightforward as there are boundary institutions in which the state acts like a private investor prioritizing profitability but also including a redistributive logic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Off-balance-sheet policies to the rescue: The role of statistical expertise for European public–private partnerships

Endrejat

2024

Competition & Change

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Off-balance-sheet policies are an important but understudied phenomenon that emerged from a technical subtlety in the calculation of public debt statistics. Taking the case of an exemplary European off-balance-sheet policy, public–private partnerships (PPPs), this paper analyzes the technocratic processes that allow the emergence of such debt-neutral instruments. In the aftermath of the sovereign debt crisis, off-balance-sheet policies have become an important policy tool for Member States in the European Economic and Monetary Union, enabling them to strike a balance between the perceived ‘public investment gap’ and the mantra of fiscal consolidation. The case study shows how the lack of political solutions to Europe’s investment-consolidation conundrum leaves it to technical experts to find workable solutions within the existing rules. The off-balance-sheet status of PPPs came under threat in 2014 but was reaffirmed through a coordinated effort by two strange bedfellows: the European Investment Bank (EIB), a promoter of PPPs, and Eurostat, the European authority responsible for public debt and deficit indicators. I argue that Eurostat and the EIB have entered into strategic cooperation to increase each other’s room for manoeuvre, diffuse political pressure and avoid bureaucratic overload. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the role of technocrats and their expertise, which shape the mutual relations between fiscal constraints and financialized investment policies in the European investor states.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Off-balance-sheet policies to the rescue: The role of statistical expertise for European public–private partnerships

Endrejat

2024

Competition & Change

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Defining the Government's Debt and Deficit

Cited by 1 publication

References 73 publications

Off-balance-sheet policies to the rescue: The role of statistical expertise for European public–private partnerships

Off-balance-sheet policies to the rescue: The role of statistical expertise for European public–private partnerships

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