Staatsausgaben, Staatsverschuldung und die makroökonomische Konsumfunktion

This paper deals with the question: Depends private consumption on the choice of tax- versus debt-financing of government expenditure? Theoretical basis is a lifecycle model with rational expectations. In this model only unexpected events cause a change of consumption (surprise consumption function). The empirical results show that - given net labour income - an unanticipated government deficit reduce private consumption expenditure. The hypothesis of fiscal illusion can be rejected, but the problem of one-to-one equivalence of tax- and debt-financing can not definitely be settled