Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/295980 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 10891
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We use novel German survey data to investigate how perceptions and information about public finances influence attitudes towards public debt and fiscal rules. On average, people strongly underestimate the debt-to-GDP ratio, overestimate the interest-to-tax-revenue ratio and favor a tighter German debt brake. In an information treatment experiment, people consider public debt to be a more (less) severe problem once they learn the actual debt-to-GDP or interest-to-tax-revenue ratio is higher (lower) than their estimates. However, the treatment effects partly vanish when anchoring respondents' beliefs with historical public debt figures. We find no treatment effects on attitudes towards the debt brake.
Subjects: 
public debt
fiscal rules
information treatment
expectations
JEL: 
E60
D83
H31
H60
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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