What Does the Government’s Balance Sheet Look Like?
摘要
This chapter looks at a government's balance sheet, showing the various types of assets and liabilities it contains. It defines net worth as the difference between total assets and total liabilities and explains why net worth is a better, more comprehensive, measure of fiscal position than the more common measure, debt. It introduces the importance of good asset management and highlights that debt is but one of a government's liabilities and may not be the largest. It describes some of the complexities of measuring the value of many liabilities.