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...

Cross-country studies have found a negative relationship between income inequality and economic growth. The main problem with the cross-country analyses is the poor quality of the data on income distribution. This paper tests the robustness of the cross-country results to the use of a more...

There is a large literature showing that fiscal policy is either acyclical or countercyclical in industrial countries and procyclical in developing countries. Most of this literature is based on OLS regressions that focus on the correlation between a fiscal variable (usually the budget balance...

This paper surveys the recent literature on fiscal sustainability, with particular emphasis on emerging market countries. It discusses the main elements that differentiate emerging market countries from industrial countries and then discusses how probabilistic models can help to evaluate fiscal...

The 2007 Report on Economic and Social Progress in Latin America analyzes the nature and evolution of sovereign debt in Latin America and discusses the policies that can be followed by countries and international financial institutions (IFIs) to reduce the vulnerabilities associated with it....