We use the time series of shifts in U.S. Federal tax liabilities constructed by Romer and Romer to estimate tax multipliers. Differently from the single-equation approach adopted by Romer and Romer, our estimation strategy (a Var that includes output, government spending and revenues, inflation...

This paper shows how the richer frequency and variety of fiscal policy shocks available in an international sample can be analyzed recognizing the heterogeneity that exists across different countries. The main conclusion of our empirical analysis is that the question 'what is the fiscal policy...

We examine debt-sensitive majority rules. According to such a rule, the higher a planned public debt, the higher the parliamentary majority required to approve it. In a two-period model we compare debt-sensitive majority rules with the simple majority rule when individuals differ regarding their...

The currently available empirical evidence shows remarkable differences between various estimates of the effects on U.S. output of an exogenous shift in Federal tax liabilities. Shocks identified via the narrative method imply a multiplier of about three over an horizon of three years. Tax...

Recent reforms in New Zealand have focused attention on the achievement of well-specific objectives for monetary and fiscal policy. The Reserve Bank Act requires that monetary policy be directed towards maintenance of inflation in the 0-2 per cent range. The Fiscal Responsibility Act specifies a...

This paper critiques the arguments put by the Howard Government for an unadulterated, flat rate GST policy, by taking the characterisation of the current wholesale sales tax (WST) as an outdated tax without design or logic, ans showing this view to be historically wrong and superficial. It does...

This paper examines the appropriate taxation of financial services under a broad-based consumption tax. It is assumed that the underlying objective of the consumption tax is to maintain undistorted prices between current and future consumption (i.e. to impose no distortion on savings decisions)...

This paper explores the interaction of monetary and fiscal regimes and discrete policy shifts in the Australian Economy.

The fiscal theory of the price level asserts that the price level is determined by the ratio of outstanding public nominal debt into the present value of real primary budget surpluses of the government. We here argue that the logic of the fiscal theory fails when at least part of the public debt...

In this paper we evaluate internationally agreed limits on public sector debt and deficits, such as those agreed by the EC countries in the Treaty of Maastricht as preconditions for membership in a monetary union. These fiscal convergence criteria require that general government budget deficits...