Fiscal policy· Economy and public finances· Macroeconomic policy Seeking public value The case for balance sheet targeting in fiscal policy 29 September 2019 Richard Hughes The traditional measures of government financial performance in the UK, public sector net borrowing and debt, do not fully capture the way in which people think about, talk about, and make fiscal policy today. With the government’s current fiscal rules set to expire next year, this paper makes the case for government’s next fiscal framework to move beyond the narrow focus on debt and include a target which encompasses its entire balance sheet of assets and liabilities.
