This paper presents a model-based fiscal Taylor rule and a toolkit to assess the fiscal stance, defined as the change in the structural primary balance. This is built on the normative buffer-stock model of the government (Fournier, 2019) which includes key channels like hysteresis,...

We draw on a newly collected historical dataset of fiscal variables for a large panel of countries — to our knowledge, the most comprehensive database currently available — to gauge the degree of fiscal prudence or profligacy for each country over the past several decades. Specifically, our...