The pros and cons of institutionalized constraints limiting the freedom of national budgetary policies within an economic and monetary union in Europe are reviewed. The issue is approached from three angles: the influence of EMU on budget discipline, intergenerational equity and intertemporal...

Some new empirical evidence on the determination of long-term interest rates in the United States is presented. The empirical results generally support the view that fiscal deficits raise real long-term interest rates. The paper also discusses both theoretical considerations and other empirical...

An analysis of issues regarding the measurement of saving concludes that the observed declines in national, private, and personal saving rates in the United States cannot be attributed to measurement problems. Several factors that seem to have accounted for the decline in U.S. personal saving...

Indirect taxes are an important element in stabilization tax packages that aim to raise revenue in the short run. This paper evaluates, by using a general equilibrium model, alternative instruments of indirect taxation in middle-income developing countries. It uses data for Thailand as an...