Portuguese Public Finances in the Golden Age, 1950–1973: an Illustrated Overview

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyse the Portuguese public finances during the Golden Age of the world economy (1950–1973). The results obtained show that during most of this period, Portugal registered budgetary deficits, although none exceeded 3% of GDP, with the public debt/GDP ratio remaining below 25%, which appears to imply that Portuguese finances were sound. Additionally, and from an international perspective, it was also possible to conclude that Portugal was integrated in a restricted group of five European countries that simultaneously presented average values for deficit and debt that did not exceed 1% and 20% of GDP, respectively.