Nobel laureate says Trump policies may lead to budget problems

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's plans to increase spending on infrastructure while cutting taxes would endanger public finances, Economics Nobel laureate Oliver Hart said on Wednesday.

With much infrastructure in the United States in bad shape, increased spending could be good even if the details in Trump's plans were "not so impressive", he said.

"But then also reducing taxes, I mean that is going to lead to all sorts of budgetary problems in the future," Hart told a news conference in Stockholm, along with the other winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, Bengt Holmstrom.

Hart and Holmstrom are due to receive the prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on Saturday.

Hart also criticized the idea of tearing up trade agreements and said reducing taxes on the rich was contrary to his belief of what was needed.

"I would be in favor of actually increasing the tax burden on the wealthy," he said, adding it was very hard to know what Trump will actually do when taking office.

(Reporting by Daniel Dickson Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

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