地方政府债务规模是否影响预算外单位的债务水平?以韩国地方政府为例

Does the size of local government debt affect the level of debt of off-budget entities?The case of local government in Korea

受到预算制约影响,预算外单位债务增长迅速。当地方政府面临财政压力时,随着债务增长,它们倾向于依靠地方公共企业债务,来尽量减少债务限额和预算制约。本研究基于面板数据回归分析,对2008—2013年韩国16个大都市和道进行研究,检验地方政府债务水平对预算外单位债务水平的影响程度。研究结果表明,随着地方政府债务的增加,公共企业债务也相应增加。该结果证实,通过增加公共债务总额,公共企业被用于减轻预算压力。这种做法就像利用预算外单位掩盖地方政府债务,最终造成一种财政幻觉。

The rapid growth of debt of off-budget entities is the result of budgetary constraints.When local governments face fiscal stress,with rising debt,they tend to rely on local public enterprise debt to minimize debt limits and budgetary constraints.This study tests how the debt level of local governments affects the debt level of off-budget entities in 16 Korean metropolitan cities and provinces from 2008 to 2013,applying panel regressions.The results assert that as the debt of a local government increases,public enterprise debt increases accordingly.The findings confirm that public enterprises are used to lessen budget pressure by increasing the total public debt.This practice is like concealing local government debt by using off-budget entities,which eventually creates a fiscal illusion.