在經濟學的領域中，一般對財政政策的重要性均深信不疑，且多認為政府的預算會影響到總合所得與就業之水準，而傳統上衡量此種衝擊效果的大小與方向，均以政府的財政餘額為依歸，亦即如果當年度預算餘額為赤字(盈餘)時，則表示政府於當年度實施擴張性(緊縮性)的財政政策。但是，傳統赤字衡量方式卻常因為考慮的層面不夠廣泛，以及外在經濟因素波動的影響，而使其所呈現出來的結果之真實性受到質疑，如果將之用來衡量政府財政收支對總體經濟的衝擊效果時，極可能會因而誤導我們對財政政策的判斷。所以，實有必要引進一種新的總體衡量指標。

歐美各國有關這方面的研究工作，己臻完善;再加上近年來各先進國家無不以財政赤字為苦，因此對於即將展開重大經濟建設計劃的我國來說，利用國外既有之經驗及研究成果，來衡量國內的財政政策之趨勢，應屬最適當時機。所以本文的研究方式，乃是套用各種不同的衡量方式(如:美國的高度就業餘額、IMF 與OECD 的財政衝擊衡量、西德的循環中性餘額、及結構性預算餘額) ，並進行某些必要的調整(如通貨膨脹因素的調整、景氣循環的調整) ，最後就所得出的結果與傳統定義下的財政餘額做一比較，以此說明:經過各種調整後，所建立的這項指標才足以彰顯我國財政政策真正的緊縮或寬鬆的程度。

一.中文部份:
(一)黃明聖「英國與我國財政指標」經社法制論叢，第九期，行政院經濟建設委員會，民國八十一年元月，頁239-57.
(二)賴清棋，財政政策穩定效果衡量之研究，政治大學財政所碩士論文，民國六十九年。
(三)財政部賦稅改革委員會，我國國民賦稅負擔之估計，專題報告3，民國七十八年六月。
(四)財政部賦稅改革委員會，我國公債管理制度與政策運用及對總體經濟影響之研究，專題報告11，民國七十八年六月。
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