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On the expenditure side, reform typically implies reducing the
government subsides that have often mushroomed during the
hyperinflation. Obtaining a temporary suspension of interest payments
on foreign debt also helps to decrease expenditures. An important
component of stabilization in Germany in 1923 was the reduction in its
“reparation payments” – precisely those payments that had triggered
the hyperinflation in the first place.
On the revenue side, what is required is not so much an increase
in overall taxation but rather a change in the composition of taxation.
This is an important point: As you saw, during a hyperinflation, people
are in the effect paying a tax
– the inflation tax. Stabilization involves
replacing the inflation tax with other taxes. This cannot be done
overnight, but it is essential that people become convinced that it will
be done and that the budget deficit will be reduced.
The central bank must make a credible commitment that it will no
longer automatically monetize the government debt. This credibility
can be achieved in a number of ways. The central bank can be
prohibited, by decree, from buying any government debt, so that no
monetization of the debt is possible. Or the central bank can peg the
exchange rate to the currency of a country with low inflation. An even
more drastic step is to officially adopt dollarization
– that is, making a
fore
ign currency the country‟s official currency. This step is drastic
because it implies giving up seignorage altogether, and it is often
perceived as a decrease in the country‟s independence.
Are other measures needed as well? Some economists argue that
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