Sunday 25 June 2017

The optimal side of borrowing more

Borrowing in some particular countries used to be seen as the worst self-financing way, as at the time, people were more used to generating more wealth based on pre-owned wealth, risks at the time were greater and the tools of avoiding risk were very limited. However, nowadays, all countries have issued national bonds to fund their governments. Such financing method could have its positive effects (of course, it could have negative effects as well, which I will discuss tomorrow).

Once a government is able to borrow more to fund itself, its budget constraint will be shifted outwards, so fiscal policies could receive more financial support in order to be more effective. When fiscal policies become more effective, the economic growth rates could increase, it can lead to an increase in the tax incomes. It gives the government to pay back its loans and borrow more loans in the future. Moreover, such improvement in the economy could lead to an improvement in its government's credibility.

A government's credibility determines its currency value and its bond yield. When a government has a very good credit rating, its currency value could increase and its bond yield could be lower. Under such circumstance, the exports could become less competitive as the currency appreciation lowers their price competitiveness; however, the decrease in bond yields lowers the costs of borrowing more bonds, and especially if the exports are not very dependent on their price competitive, the economy could enjoy further stimulus from borrowing cheaper loans.

When in most governments, economic growth rate and tax income increase are seen as two important measurements of a government achievement; therefore, borrowing will only become larger over time.

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