Hungary has faced a considerable challenge to regain credibility following persistent and high fiscal deficits. Efforts during recent years have produced substantial results. The fiscal deficit has been brought down significantly and, despite the recession, fiscal consolidation has continued to...

The literature on long-term relationships in public finance is dominated by two approaches: fiscal sustainability and Wagner´s law. In this paper, we argue that they should be analyzed simultaneously, using vector error-correction models for public expenditures, revenues, and GDP. For Germany,...

The LDP-New Komeito coalition government is currently promoting, under Prime Minister Abe, economic policies often dubbed gAbenomicsh which combines gthree policy arrows,h including gaggressive monetary relaxation,h gflexible fiscal policy,h and ggrowth strategy that encourages private sector...

Population aging will impose a significant burden on European pay-as-you-go pension systems. This study presents an estimate of this burden for the four largest euro-area countries and assesses alternative reform approaches. With prudent and realistic assumptions, the present value of future...

This paper examines various aspects of fiscal policy in Slovenia, in particular fiscal consolidation, pension reform, efficiency of government spending and the tax system. It finds that Slovenia belongs to the group of new EU member countries, which have given in the past a high priority to...

Approaching demographic shifts are raising concerns about fiscal sustainability in most OECD countries. A widespread view based on the tax-smoothing idea is that a prior consolidation of public finances is required to cope with the predicted trend deterioration in the primary budget balance....

In this paper we evaluate the long-term performance of the Polish public pension system from three perspectives: fiscal stability, intergenerational redistribution and adequacy of pension benefits. We assess the two recent public pension reforms undertaken in Poland: 1) the shift of a part of...

Over the past three decades, public spending on infrastructure, as a share of GDP, has been on the decline worldwide. Although the link between infrastructure investment and economic growth is not yet fully understood, the quality of infrastructure clearly affects a country's productivity,...

The 2007 Article IV Consultation with the Kingdom of the Netherlands explains fiscal policy and financial sector issues. Improvements in the macroeconomic and business environments and technological innovation have contributed positively to Dutch competitiveness. Executive Directors emphasized...

A very ambitious fiscal adjustment effort is under way. Fiscal institutional and sectoral reforms have been elaborated for a more durable adjustment. Greece’s determination toward a comprehensive modernization of the health sector, beginning with a far-reaching reform of state enterprises...