Yunxiao Xu
Email: xuyunxiao@pku.edu.cn.
Yunxiao Xu is Associate Professor of Public Finance at Peking University, China, where she teaches public economics, public choice and government budgeting. She has published extensively on China’s economic and financial challenges and reforms. A member of the Economic Policy Committee of the State Council since 2002, her interests have expanded to budget laws, public finance statistics and government accounting. Xu received her PhD in economics from Peking University and conducted postdoctoral research at the Research Institute of Fiscal Science, Ministry of Finance of China.
Papers Published in World Economics:
How Much Red Ink?
Under the influence of economics, fiscal policy and government budgets focus on projected cash deficits and bonds issued to finance them. While these numbers are certainly necessary, they overlook the delayed costs of policy decisions and actions. Therefore they should be complemented by actual cash deficit, actual accrual deficit and total liability numbers. Data from the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. Government during the past decade are used to show how much a difference the lapse of time and the accrual method made to the common measures of perceived fiscal realities. It is argued that accrual accounting numbers unveil the severity and important aspects of the fiscal problems facing the United States.
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