Debates on the appropriate response of fiscal policy to economic downturns, such as the debates on the merits of austerity measures in Europe, have been centered on the size of the fiscal multipliers. Indeed, empirical and theoretical evidence suggests larger multipliers at times of recession...

In this paper we explore the effects of alternative combinations of fiscal and monetary poli- cies under different income distribution regimes. In particular, we aim at evaluating fis- cal rules in economies subject to banking crises and deep recessions. We do so using an agent-based model...

We estimate a SVAR model of the French economy. The econometric method originates in Blanchard and Perotti [Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2002] but owes also extensively to the fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL) that investigates the interactions between government surplus, debt...

This paper uses the SVAR methodology to investigate the effects of public investment on growth, and more specifically, the effects of the introduction of a golden rule of public finance. We extend the existing literature by estimating a model of the British economy that takes into account long...

This paper reviews the arguments for and against the ‘Stability and Growth Pact’ signed by the countries of the Euro area. We find the theoretical debate to be inconclusive, as both externality and credibility arguments can be used to yield opposite, and equally plausible conclusions. We...

Stability-oriented European institutions correspond to the general prescriptions of the ‘new macroeconomics consensus’. This contribution provides an assessment of the pros and cons of these institutions in terms of macro stabilisation and exchange-rate swings drawing on different scenarios....

This article presents a survey of the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level. According to it, there are two stable regimes of economic policies: one, traditional, where the monetary authorities control inflation and where the fiscal authorities must be concerned with their intertemporal balance. The...

The effects of the current crisis on the level of output, and consequently on unemployment and poverty, are likely to be deep and long lasting; they should not be underestimated, especially now that some timid signs of recovery are appearing. The crisis was triggered by the US financial sector,...

According to the fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL), the interactions between monetary and fiscal policies with governments facing the possibility to act in a non-Ricardian manner make the general price level be fully determined. Here, depending on the expectations framework, we show to...

This paper argues that the European Union has gone farther than any other country or institution in internalizing the prescriptions of the Washington Consensus.Embedding neo-liberal principles in the treaties defining its governance,the EU has enshrined a peculiar doctrine within its...