The two main aims of the text were comparative analysis of several legal methodologies for defining public debt developed by international organizations and presenting the Polish legal methodology of calculating public debt while pointing out to the differences between methodologies. Presentation of the concept of the budget deficit and public debt in economic theory served as introduction to the description of legal approach to public debt. The second part of the study examines the economic volatility of the state budget deficit and public debt in selected non-European economies after 2007. The analysis was carried out on a group of sixty-largest economies in the world by GDP at market prices by purchasing power parity. The state of public finance of non – European economies is shown in comparison with the state of EU public finance
W ostatnich latach strefa euro odznacza się bardzo niskim tempem wzrostu gospodarczego (w niektórych latach zanotowano nawet zmniejszenie realnej wielkości produkcjifaktycznej). Uruchomiło to dyskusję wśród ekonomistów na temat instrumentów, jakiepowinna zastosować polityka publiczna w celu ożywienia gospodarki. W niniejszymartykule autor przeanalizował możliwości oddziaływania polityki fiskalnej i politykimonetarnej na wzrost gospodarczy, w sytuacji gdy stagnacji gospodarczej w strefie eurotowarzyszy wysoki poziom długu publicznego jako % PKB, a także bardzo niski poziom stóp procentowych banku centralnego oraz rynkowych stóp procentowych. Autorna gruncie teorii ekonomii rozważył, czy ekspansywna polityka fiskalna przyczyni się dowzrostu realnej produkcji, czy też jedynie powiększy dług publiczny i zwiększy ryzykoniewypłacalności państwa i kryzysu walutowego. Autor przedstawił także koncepcjęilościowego luzowania jako instrumentu ekspansywnej polityki monetarnej.
In recent years the euro area has been characterised by a very low rate of economic growth (in some years there was even a real reduction in the volume of production). This has launched a debate among economists about the instruments to be applied in public policy to bolster the economy. In this article the author analysed the possible effects of fiscal and monetary policy on economic growth when economic stagnation in the euro area is accompanied by a high level of public debt as a percentage of GDP and a very low level of the interest rates set by the central bank as well as market interest rates. On the basis of economic theory the author considers whether expansionary fiscal policy will contribute to the growth of real output, or merely enlarge the public debt and increase the risk of sovereign debt default and currency crisis. The author also introduced the concept of quantitative easing as an instrument of expansionary monetary policy.
The article contains an analysis of the budget deficit variability and public debt variation in the EU in 2010. Comparing the scale and economic determinants of changes in the state budget deficit and public debt in 2010 in the Central and Eastern European EU member states and in other EU countries we reach the following conclusions: 1) The average scale of the improvement of the economic result of the state budget as % of GDP was higher in the Central and Eastern Europe countries comparing to other EU member states. In the first group of countries, economic results improved on average by 1.1 percentage points, and in the other by 0.75 percentage points. 2) In most Central and Eastern European countries, as well as in most other EU countries the decline in budgetary expenditure, expressed in% of GDP was the only or major determinant of the reduction of the economic deficit of the state budget as % of GDP. Reduction of public spending in GDP was in turn the result of reducing the fiscal growth of nominal spending. In the Central and Eastern European countries in 2010, the nominal budget spending, decreased on average by 0.4%, while in 2009 increased on average by 16.1%. 3) In the rest of the EU average increase in public debt as % of GDP was higher than the average increase in public debt in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. For the rest of the EU member states, public debt at the end of 2010 as % of GDP was by 4.65 percentage points higher than at the end of 2009, and for the Central and Eastern European countries by 4.14 percentage points higher. At the end of 2010 Central and Eastern European countries had significantly lower average level of public debt as % of GDP in comparison with other EU members states (38.9% of GDP and 74.8% of GDP). In most other EU countries there is virtually no limit for increasing the public debt, therefore there is no limit for a high budget deficit. Among Central and Eastern European EU member states only Hungary are in similar situation while Poland is close by. Therefore, most other EU countries and some countries of Central and Eastern Europe must immediately substantially reduce the scale of the economic deficit of the state budget. Countries where public debt is relatively low should not delay further restrictions of the state budget deficit as later on they will have to make this reduction under pressure of time. Above else, high economic deficit negatively impacts the economy, including economic growth. If EU member states fail to implement quickly the low economic state budget defi cit policy, they will plunge into economic recession that will last for many years.
