The extensive public sector measures in support of the financial sector have been key to managing the financial crisis that erupted in mid-2007 and intensified after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. This article looks into the measures taken by central banks to contain the impact of the...

The Swiss debt brake served as a model for the new German budget rule. The two tools share the long-term goal of rendering fiscal policy sustainable by stabilising nominal debt as well as the short-term goal of smoothing the economic cycle. Debt brakes thus act as an automatic stabiliser within...