Public debts in the euro area have increased sharply due to the economic crisis, and remain at historically high levels in several countries. In a monetary union, high-debt members represent a permanent threat to financial stability, as they are subject – even if fundamentally solvent – to...

Italian Abstract In questo lavoro si discutono le caratteristiche strutturali dell’Irpef al fine di studiarne gli effetti sulla redistribuzione del reddito e sugli incentivi all’offerta di lavoro. L’analisi è condotta mediante il modello statico di microsimulazione BIMic. Rileviamo che...

The paper examines the development of Italy's public finances after the consolidation period 1992-97, which secured participation in the European Monetary Union from the outset. The quot;structuralquot; developments in the main budgetary components are assessed, excluding the effects of the...

To contrast the severe global recession of 2009, governments in most advanced countries implemented expansionary fiscal policies leading to a steep increase in public debt. As economies recover, a critical choice is whether to stabilize debt at post-crisis levels, or to bring it down to...

The depth and the length of the recent crisis prompted a more positive re-assessment of a countercyclical fiscal stance, especially in the euro area. Against this background, we look at discretionary fiscal policy in the euro area from three different perspectives. First, we provide evidence...

We review the general reasons for limiting the discretion of national fiscal policies in the context of a monetary union and, on this basis, we assess the shortcomings of the current Euro area fiscal framework as well as the merits of the main proposals for its reform. Taking into account the...

The experience of other successful monetary unions and economic theory suggest that the euro area would benefit from the establishment of a supranational fiscal capacity. Institutional reforms prompted by the crisis (e.g., the European Stability Mechanism and the banking union) are introducing...