This paper surveys the empirical research on fiscal institutions of the last three decades. The main results are: (i) Constitutional or statutory fiscal limitations have in most cases proved to be effective in cutting down public expenditure, revenue, and debt. (ii) Budgetary proce-dures matter...

The report, a joint effort by the Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, seeks to provide the Ecuadorian authorities with a comprehensive account of both institutions' diagnoses and recommendations in the area of fiscal management and public expenditure. This report consists of two...

The report, a joint effort by the Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, seeks to provide the Ecuadorian authorities with a comprehensive account of both institutions' diagnoses and recommendations in the area of fiscal management and public expenditure. This report consists of two...

Mongolia has realized important progress toward more efficient and sustainable public finances over the last decade. However, weaknesses in the institutional and structural reform agenda threaten Mongolia's fiscal balances. The government proposes to grow at 6 percent. This report discusses...

This Public Expenditure Review (PER), is the seventh in a series of annual PERs for Ethiopia, addressing issues of public expenditure management, relevant to the government, and donors. As such, and as a result of a shared understanding between the Government, and a core donor group, the report...

We examine how fiscal rules influence economic growth. The results show that constitutional fiscal rules promoted growth from the Industrial Revolution until World War II (1789-1950) and also increased modern economic growth (1985-2015). To address selection on unobservables, we conduct a...

We assess public finances solvency for Euro Area countries using quarterly data between 1999Q1 and 2020Q4. Through a country-by-country analysis, the answer to the title question is true. For most countries, (i) the primary budget balance reacts positively to the lagged public debt ratio and...