In 2001, Chile was one of the first countries in the world to adopt a structural balance fiscal rule. This paper provides the foundations of the choice of the rule, its methodological design and its initial estimates for the period 1987-2000. The paper also includes a discussion about the use of...

As oil and gas are exhaustible resources, the need for economic diversification has gained momentum in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries immediately after the end of the first oil boom in 1973-74. Economic diversification, in the context of GCC countries, implies development of the...

This paper explains the early U.S. Department of Commerce estimates of national income and product during the 1930s and 1940s, focusing on how both economic theory and the needs of policymakers influenced the methods and concepts used. The paper explores the debate between Simon Kuznets, author...

The paper attempts to empirically explore the transmission mechanism regarding the short-term impact of public debt and growth. We examine and evaluate the direct effect of higher indebtedness on economic growth for countries in the EU which are in the epicentre of the current sovereign debt...

This study examines the fiscal sustainability of SAARC and Asian Growth-Triangle countries using Fisher and IPS tests of panel unit root and Pedroni test of panel cointegration. The tests are applied to the relationships, in terms of GDP ratios, between, i) the debt and primary surplus, and ii)...

This paper analyses in a VAR framework with debt feedback effects of fiscal policy over 1999q1-2013q4 in five Central and East European economies: Slovakia, Czech republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Lithuania. The results are compared to two alternative specifications, a model without debt feedback,...

This paper analyses the issue of the dynamics of the TARGET2 system balances during the sovereign debt crisis. The development of these balances reflects the change in the distribution of the monetary base among the EMU Member States. During the sovereign debt crisis, while some countries, among...

A sustainable debt is a precondition for sustainable development. Yet the analysis of a country’s debt sustainability is a complex task given issues related to (1) establishing the actual debt outstanding and future debt-service obligations; (2) defining appropriate sustainability indicators;...

The basic thesis of this article is that the essential origins of the modern ‘financial revolution’ were the late-medieval responses, civic and mercantile, to financial impediments from both Church and State, concerning the usury doctrine, that reached their harmful fruition in the later...

One of the most difficult tasks in preparing a poverty reduction strategy consists in setting priorities for public action, taking into account the cost of social programs and the capacity of the government to pay that cost. The ability to pay for social programs is determined by the resources...