biostudies-literatureUnknown50(2)Akhmadieva VThe financial crisis from 2007 and, even more so, the Covid-19 pandemic caused large increases in public sector deficits and debts in many countries and prompted concern about fiscal adjustment. This paper examines fiscal adjustment to debt and deficits for a panel of 17 countries over 1870-2016 using the Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory Database. This long span panel is informative since it contains many examples of large fiscal shocks similar to those recently experienced. The results from reduced-form models suggest that large deficits or surpluses tend to prompt stabilising feedbacks, mainly through changes in revenue, and there is greater pressure to adjust on countries running a deficit versus those running a surplus. However, the debt-GDP ratio prompts much less stabilising feedJournal of comparative economics555-568https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9675945biostudies-literatureFiscal adjustment in a panel of countries 1870-2016.PMC9675945Akhmadieva VfalseFiscal adjustment in a panel of countries 1870-2016.The financial crisis from 2007 and, even more so, the Covid-19 pandemic caused large increases in public sector deficits and debts in many countries and prompted concern about fiscal adjustment. This paper examines fiscal adjustment to debt and deficits for a panel of 17 countries over 1870-2016 using the Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory Database. This long span panel is informative since it contains many examples of large fiscal shocks similar to those recently experienced. The results from reduced-form models suggest that large deficits or surpluses tend to prompt stabilising feedbacks, mainly through changes in revenue, and there is greater pressure to adjust on countries running a deficit versus those running a surplus. However, the debt-GDP ratio prompts much less stabilising feed2022-01-01T00:00:00Z2022 Jun2025-04-04T19:51:12.404Z2024-11-07T05:03:45.263ZS-EPMC96759453643871710.1016/j.jce.2021.12.003