Crawford School of Public Policy CAMA Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis Oil and Fiscal Policy Regimes CAMA Working Paper 10/2021 January 2021 Hilde C. Bjørnland BI Norwegian Business School, Norges Bank Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, ANU Roberto Casarin Ca' Foscari University Venice Marco Lorusso Newcastle University Business School Francesco Ravazzolo Free University of Bozen-Bolzano BI Norwegian Business School RCEA Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, ANU Abstract We analyse fiscal policy responses in oil rich countries by developing a Bayesian regime- switching panel country analysis. We use parameter restrictions to identify procyclical and countercyclical fiscal policy regimes over the sample in 23 OECD and non-OECD oil producing countries. We find that fiscal policy is switching between pro- and countercyclial regimes multiple times. Furthermore, for all countries, fiscal policy is more volatile in the countercyclical regime than in the procyclical regime. In the procyclical regime, however, fiscal policy is systematically more volatile and excessive in the non-OECD (including OPEC) countries than in the OECD countries. This suggests OECD countries are able to smooth spending and save more than the non-OECD countries. Our results emphasize that it is both possible and important to separate a procyclical regime from a countercyclical regime when analysing fiscal policy. Doing so, we have encountered new facts about fiscal policy in oil rich countries. | THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Keywords Dynamic Panel Model, Mixed-Frequency, Markov Switching, Bayesian Inference, Fiscal Policy, Resource Rich Countries, Oil Prices JEL Classification C13, C14, C51, C53, E62, Q43 Address for correspondence: (E)
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