Conclusion
This paper has explored the joint dynamics of external debt, capital accumulation,
and growth. In developing countries in East Asia and elsewhere,
external debt issues are often associated with public policy decisions
about fiscal policy. This has been especially relevant since the Asian
financial crisis in the late 1990s. The relative simplicity of our model makes
it convenient to analyze the links between domestic adjustment policies,
foreign borrowing, and growth. We estimate the optimal domestic saving
rate for the Philippines that is consistent with maximum real consumption
per unit of effective labor in the long run. As a by-product, we estimate
the steady-state ratio of net external debt to GDP that is associated with
this optimal outcome. The framework is an extension of the standard neoclassical
growth model that incorporates endogenous technical change and
global capital markets. Utilizing this framework, the linkages between fiscal
policy and external debt management are discussed in the context of
a calibrated model for the Philippines. The major policy implications are
that, in the long run, fiscal adjustment and the promotion of private saving
are critical; reliance on foreign saving in a globalized financial world has
limits; and when risk spreads are highly and positively correlated with rising
external debt levels, unabated foreign borrowing depresses long-run
welfare.
The obvious policy conclusions of the extended model are:
1. Fiscal consolidation and strong incentives for private saving are essential
to achieving maximum per capita GDP growth;
2. The domestic saving rate should be set below the share of capital in
total output, owing to positive externalities arising from learning by doing
associated with capital accumulation. Equivalently put, income going to
capital as a share of total output should be a multiple of the amount saved
and invested in order to compensate capital for the additional output generated
by endogenous growth and induced learning;
3. Reliance on foreign savings (external borrowing) has limits, particularly
in a global environment of high interest rates and risk spreads;
4. When real borrowing costs are positively correlated with rising external
indebtedness, the use of foreign savings is even more circumscribed;
and
5. When risk spreads are prohibitively high despite high-expected marginal
product of capital, there is a role for increased foreign aid earmarked
for education and health, provided that economic policies are sound.