By distinguishing between discretionary and non-discretionary fiscal policy, this paper analyses the stability of fiscal rules for EMU countries before and after the Maastricht Treaty. Using both Instrumental Variables and GMM techniques, it turns out that discretionary fiscal policy has...

This paper proposes a new measure of contagion, based on the frequency analysis of causality developed recently by Breitung and Candelon [Breitung, J., Candelon, B. 2006. Testing for short and long-run causality: a frequency domain approach, Journal of Econometrics, 12, 363-378.]. This approach...