The authors study the implications of fiscal policy behaviour for sovereign risk in a framework that determines a country's fiscal limit, the point at which, for economic or political reasons, taxes and spending can no longer adjust to stabilize debt. A real business cycle model maps the...

The paper explores the macroeconomic consequences of fiscal consolidations whose timing and composition - either tax- or spending-based - are uncertain. We find that the composition of the fiscal consolidation, its duration, the monetary policy stance, the level of government debt, and...

Men, especially those that are young and less educated, typically bear the brunt of recessions because of the stronger cyclicality of their employment and wages relative to women's. We study the extent to which fiscal policy may offset or worsen these asymmetric effects across gender. Using...

How do households respond to unanticipated income shocks? I build and estimate a quantitative model of bounded rationality in which reoptimization is costly. Households respond to windfall income shocks by choosing a finite planning horizon over which to reoptimize. The optimal horizon is...

Using micro data from the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey and Current Population Survey, I document that government spending shocks affect individuals differently over the life cycle. Young households increase their consumption after an expansionary shock while prime-age households reduce it,...

In the United States, 30% of households are coholders who simultaneously borrow on credit cards and hold liquid assets. This generates a rich distribution of gross wealth positions that underpins the distribution of net wealth often used to calibrate macroeconomic models. We show that, beyond...

Die anhaltend gute konjunkturelle Lage in Deutschland scheint die Politik in trügerischer Sicherheit zu wiegen. In der vergangenen Legislaturperiode konnte man den Eindruck gewinnen, dass die Verteilung des Erwirtschafteten stärker im Vordergrund steht als die Steigerung des Wohlstands. Und...

This paper empirically evaluates how fiscal policy reacts to changes in the government's fiscal situation. Utilizing panel data from the German states covering the period from 1992 to 2011, we assess to what extent exogenous changes in tax revenues affect total public revenues, aggregate public...

Die europäischen Fiskalregeln - wichtiger Eckpfeiler der Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion - stehen in der Kritik und sollen reformiert werden. Einerseits wird argumentiert, dass sie zu restriktiv und angesichts eines steigenden öffentlichen Investitionsbedarfes nicht mehr zeitgemäß seien....