While there are many methods to measure the competitiveness of an economy, most of these concepts ignore the fact that competitiveness can change not only because of market processes such as wage negotiation but also because of political decision making. Governments that compete with others for...

This paper offers a brief overview of the research activities of the National Bank of Belgium with respect to so-called structural or cyclically-adjusted fiscal indicators. In making any form of fiscal assessment, it is essential to have an unbiased measure of the real policy stance. It is...