After its fiscalcrisis in the 1990s, Swedenadopted a much morecautious approach to thepublicfinancesandset a goalof running a budgetarysurplus over theeconomiccycle.
And there was a major spending reduction in the wake of the income-tax increase Clinton is famous for, with the budgetarysurplus implying future tax cuts.
Fisher and I agree that the trade gap and the budget deficit are positives for stocks: the bigger the better. (Americans hold far too little debt, and anything that increases it is a plus.) He also celebrates the supply-side tax cuts, though he deems a negative for stocks the currently little noticed all-government budgetarysurplus caused by the tax rate reductions.
Guillermo Perry, the World Bank's chief economist for Latin America, says Chile is better placed than any other country in the region to absorb external shocks, thanks to its well organised budgetary institutions, prudent fiscal management (a surplus every year since 1989) and tight banking supervision.