The early 1980s were a time of large budget deficits and increasing ratios of government debt to GNP for many of the OECD countries (Table 1), prompting concerns that the fiscal policies which led to such outcomes were not only unwise, but also unsustainable. Assessing wisdom is not easy,...

This paper describes the methodology used by the IMF staff to calculate the structural budget balance, estimates of which are published regularly in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook. The structural budget balance is the government’s actual fiscal position purged of the estimated budgetary...

Roberto Cardarelli and Nicola Sartor present generational accounting estimates for Italy which is characterised by the very low fertility rate, the high public debt and the large proportion of social expenditure targeted to the elderly. The paper points to the reduction in the intergenerational...

The paper presents a large scale overlapping generation model with heterogeneous agents, where the family is the decision unit. We calibrate the model for three European countries – France, Italy and Sweden – which show marked differences in the design of some public programs. We examine the...

The following paper reports the main objective and the expected outcomes of an ambitious project that aims to develop a model for the analysis of both inter-household and intra-household distribution in a life-cycle perspective. In reporting such research objectives, this anal- ysis focuses in...

An examination of the generational imbalance in current Italian fiscal policy, showing that unless dramatic steps are taken soon, future generations' net tax bill will be four or more times the amount that today's newborns are slated to pay.

A correct assessment of public policies requires the analysis of deliberate and involuntary redistribution. Redistributive policies have an interpersonal as well as an intrapersonal dimension. To assess the latter, the entire lifetime of individuals and families has to be taken into...

This paper describes the methodology used by the IMF staff to calculate the structural budget balance, estimates of which are published regularly in the IMF’s World Economic Outlook. The structural budget balance is the government’s actual fiscal position purged of the estimated budgetary...