This paper attempts to provide a framework to explain both the lower share of current spending in large fiscal adjustments and the potential expansionary effects of fiscal contractions. We distinguish between current spending and productivity enhancing public investments and analyze the...

This paper examines the rise of indeterminacy when public investment fiscal rules are implemented. The framework employed by our analysis is the standard endogenous growth model with productive public capital. The government can choose to invest in infrastructure according to two different...

Does the public believe that fiscal and monetary stimulus reduce unemployment? I present survey evidence on this question from a random sample of Pennsylvania residents. Few respondents express a consistently Keynesian view of fiscal or monetary stimulus. In fact, the typical respondent believes...

In this article we use the concept of information sharing from oligopolistic games to analyse the multilateral surveillance of budget positions introduced with the Stability and Growth Pact. In a game between one monetary authority and various fiscal authorities, we will show that the...

This paper analyses the consequences of productive government spending on private consumption. In a related work, Linnemann and Schabert (2006) found that a moderate output elasticity of government expenditures is sufficient to generate a positive consumption response to a fiscal shock. It is...

We assess the sustainability of the public finances of Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain (GIIPS), allowing for possible non-linearities in the form of threshold behaviour of the fiscal authorities. We provide some evidence of fiscal sustainability when debt gets “too highâ€...

In this article, we analyze a state-contingent tax on capital gains. We start by focusing on Auerbach's (1991) retrospective capital gains tax device. Although this system is equivalent to an accrual method from an ex-ante perspective, it is not on an ex-post basis. As recognized by Auerbach,...

The Japanese government has amassed a huge amount of gross public debts over the past several decades. However, previous empirical works dealing with vector auto-regression (VAR) have not considered the effect of debt on fiscal policy and the macro economy. In this paper, we incorporate debt...

In this paper, we propose two alternative formulations of representative consumer¡¯s endogenous time preference that depends on consumption as well as wealth and/or revenue. We solve one of these formulations and apply it to study the effectiveness of fiscal policies in a small open economy...

Since the early 20th century, the Federal Government has chosen a self-imposed statutory limit on federal debt which has been increased, and occasionally reduced, in sporadic intervals. This paper uses a regression model to examine the time interval between changes in the statutory debt limit...