MMP Blog #24: What if Foreigners Hold Government Bonds?
When government deficit spends, some of the claims on government will end up in the hands of foreigners. Does this matter? Yes, according to many.
When government deficit spends, some of the claims on government will end up in the hands of foreigners. Does this matter? Yes, according to many.
We should not be fooled by such self-imposed constraints. We should be able to see through them to understand that since they are imposed by government on itself, they can be removed.
Since government deficits create an equivalent amount of nongovernment savings, it is impossible for the government to face an insufficient supply of savings.
It is best to think of the net saving of the nongovernment sector as a consequence of the government’s deficit spending—which creates income and savings.
There are often two objections to the claim that government spending effectively takes place by simultaneously crediting the recipient’s bank account as well as the bank’s reserves.