Various ways exist to make use of public debt financing despite the existence of the debt brake. These are outlined in the recent coalition agreement, which indicates that the new government will go in this direction. Particularly, the accounting of federal special funds will change and the role...

The coming relief packages should be precisely targeted in the form of transfers for those on low incomes. In times of inflation, the efficiency of government fiscal policy is of particular importance. Additional spending projects should be critically examined accordingly. In the face of acute...

The current coalition’s budget negotiations for 2024 are proving to be very difficult. For the first time since 2010, there is talk of con-solidation measures to meet the requirements of the debt brake. The sudden budget dispute does not have its origins in worsening revenue prospects, but in...

This paper assesses the effects of total public debt (external and domestic) on social expenditure worldwide and in Latin America using an unbalanced panel of around 50 countries for the period 1985-2003. The most robust and important finding is that higher debt ratios do reduce social...

This document is an update of an earlier study (Lora, 1997), which argued that the lack of direct measurements of structural policies had stood in the way of adequately evaluating the effects of the reforms on economic growth and other variables. The aim is to describe and measure the advance of...

This paper empirically explores the effects of payroll taxes, value-added taxes and corporate income taxes on a variety of labor market outcomes such as employment, unemployment, informality, and wages. Using national-level data on labor variables for 15 Latin American countries, the results...

Este sumário executivo apresenta a tributação como instrumento de desenvolvimento e não apenas uma simples fonte de receita. Aborda também algumas das áreas problemáticas nos sistemas tributários, tais como evasão, estruturas impositivas regressivas, e a incapacidade de usar os impostos...