In this study we perform an analysis of the volatility of the budget deficit for EU countries. We address this issue starting from the new requirements of fiscal discipline imposed by the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance adopted by 25 European Union member states and taking into...

We investigate the existence of Granger-causality between current account and government budget balances over the period 1970-2007, for different EU and OECD country groupings. We use a panel-data approach based on SUR systems and Wald tests with country specific bootstrap critical values. Our...

This note analyses a simple imperfectly competitive general equilibrium model where the entry mechanism generates an endogenous markup. In this second-best world fiscal policy is more effective than in Walrasian or in fixed-markup monopolistic competition models, as it produces efficiency gains...

We decompose fiscal policy in three components: i) responsiveness, ii) persistence and iii) discretion. Using a sample of 132 countries, our results point out that fiscal policy tends to be more persistent than to respond to output conditions. We also found that while the effect of cross-country...

We study fiscal consolidations in the Central and Eastern European countries and what determines the probability of their success. We define consolidation events as substantive improvements in fiscal balances adjusting for the impact of cyclical effects. We use Logit models for the period...

In this paper, we analyse the role of political and institutional variables on the cyclical patterns of central government expenditure and revenue. Working with a sample of 38 OECD and Latin-American countries in 1960-2003, we find that higher levels of income inequality are associated with...

In static general equilibrium models considering imperfectly competitive goods markets, the effectiveness of fiscal policy to stir output is shown to be greater than in the walrasian case. However, labour is the only input in these models. Here, 1 develop a simple intertemporal model allowing us...

With the fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL), Leeper- Sims-Woodford (LSW) argued that the government budget constraint plays a key role in determining the price level. Indeed, there could even be a dispute vis-à-vis the role of monetary policy in the formation of the price level. Apart from...

Using bootstrap panel analysis, allowing for cross-country correlation, without the need of pre-testing for unit roots, we study the causality between government revenue and spending for the EU in the period 1960-2006. Spend-and-tax causality is found for Italy, France, Spain, Greece, and...

In order to assess the existence of expansionary fiscal consolidations in Europe, panel data models for private consumption are estimated for the EU15 countries, using annual data over the period 1970–2005. Three alternative approaches to determine fiscal episodes are used, and the level of...