The current sovereign debt crisis is widely believed to have been caused by insufficient budget discipline. However, the financial sector accounts reveal that public as well as private borrowing in the euro area was dwarfed by the synchronised explosion of assets and liabilities of financial...

With rapidly rising government debt and ageing populations implying high contingent liabilities in public pension systems, the issue of longer-term fiscal developments is gaining importance. The question arises whether, and to what extent, future generations will be burdened by current policies....