Aaron Mehrotra

Interdisciplinary seminars
finance seminar

Aaron Mehrotra

Bank for International Settlements
Fiscal sources of inflation risk in EMDEs: the role of the external channel
Joint with
Ryan Banerjee, Fabrizio Zampolli
Venue

MEGA Salle Carine Nourry

MEGA - Salle Carine Nourry

Maison de l'économie et de la gestion d'Aix
424 chemin du viaduc
13080 Aix-en-Provence

Date(s)
Tuesday, January 24 2023| 2:30pm
Contact(s)

Eric Girardin: eric.girardin[at]univ-amu.fr
Gaël Leboeuf: gael.leboeuf[at]univ-amu.fr
Christelle Lecourt: christelle.lecourt[at]univ-amu.fr

Abstract

We examine how changes in fiscal deficits affect near-term future inflation in a panel of emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs). Using a novel method for quantile panel regressions with fixed effects, we find that an increase in the fiscal deficit has highly non-linear effects on inflation - that is, a larger impact on upside tail risks than on average inflation. These effects are substantially larger in EMDEs than in advanced economies. We also show that an increase in the fiscal deficit raises the risk of future currency depreciation, especially when the share of sovereign debt in foreign currency is large or when a sizeable share of sovereign debt is held by foreign residents. Finally, we find that the effects of fiscal deficits on future inflation are strongly attenuated in inflation targeting regimes.