Post-Keynesian approach to budget balance with regard to the financial balances of economic sectors

Abstract

In the article, the authors investigate the reasons for the fallacy of the presumption that the ‘excessive’ level of public debt is harmful to economic growth, and that austerity measures should be applied whenever public debt is too large. We also considered the approach of the advocates of “functional finance” proposed by Abba P. Lerner. Our research was based on the Balance Mechanics developed in the middle of the XXth century by the German economist Wolfgang Stützel. On this ground, the authors examined the financial balances of individual economic agents, a group of economic agents, and macroeconomic sectors of the economy. The authors make an important conclusion that follows from the macroeconomic identity: the dynamics of public sector behaviour cannot be considered in isolation from the behaviour of the private and external sectors, as changes in financial balances in these sectors are interrelated and interdependent. It follows from the macroeconomic identity that some policy objectives in one sector (for example, a constant public sector surplus) are unattainable or extremely difficult to achieve (regardless of the scale of economic adjustments used: devaluation, changes in interest rates or total income, etc.), without taking into account the wishes of other sectors. Therefore, it is extremely destructive to continue policies aimed at achieving incompatible desires for it inevitably leads to a crisis in the economy.

Keywords

• budget balance
• financial balances
• macroeconomic sectors
• macroeconomic identity
• functional finance