After a decade with large budget deficits, Switzerland introduced a debt brake in 2002. It is an expenditure rule with sets a limit on expenditure both during boom and during recession periods and applies to the federal budget and account. Judging from simulations using historical data, the...

The new Swiss budget rule or “debt brake” is based on the idea or rather the aim that the structural deficit should be zero.1 Therefore, the size of the structural deficit is of special importance for the conduct of fiscal policy under the debt brake. In 2003, it was estimated that there is...

Le nouveau mécanisme budgétaire suisse du « frein à l’endettement » part du principe, ou plutôt vise l’objectif, d’un déficit structurel nul.1 L’ampleur du déficit structurel revêt donc une importance particulière pour la conduite de la politique budgétaire dans le cadre du...