Abstract

Rising federal debt threatens to reduce the growth of the economy, people’s living standards, wages, and the standard of living. A policy solution needs to respect many constraints, most importantly, that it is seen as fair—both within generations and across generations. This article addresses concepts of fairness and their application to resolutions of the federal debt problem. The major conclusions are that policymakers should push only limited amounts of debt to future generations and that they should use the need to reform fiscal policy as a way to expand government investments in a wide range of programs—ranging from early childhood to higher education, from infrastructure to basic research. The resolution of these issues will also require progressive tax reforms.

摘要

不断上升的联邦债务威胁着经济增长，人民生活水平，工资和生活水平的下降。一个政策解决方案需要尊重许多约束，最重要的是，在世代相传和世代相传中，它都是公平的。本文讨论公平概念及其在解决联邦债务问题中的应用。主要结论是，决策者应仅将有限数量的债务推给子孙后代，他们应利用改革财政政策的必要性，以此作为扩大政府在各种计划中的投资的方式，从早期儿童到高等教育，基础研究的基础设施。解决这些问题还需要逐步进行税收改革。