The State as a Financial Market Participant

Abstract

High levels of public debt and chronic budget deficits force states to be constantly present on the financial market. This leads to the slow transformation from tax states into debt states. The change in the financial operating model generates new risks, the essence of which the literature has yet to fully identify. Increasingly, states are beginning to resemble intergenerational financial institutions, allocating funds from future generations to those currently living. The aim of this article is to identify the risks to socio-economic sustainability posed by the critical dependence of the state on market-based financing of its borrowing needs. This is a first step in the search for a new security architecture that better serves the idea of sustainable finance.