This paper gives an outline of the evolution of fiscal policy in Georgia. Starting in the mid-1990s, the authors break the recent Georgian history into two main periods, separated by the Rose Revolution of 2003. The first period was marked by some first efforts to generate and stabilize tax...

This paper reviews the uneven record of fiscal performance in the states of the former Soviet Union since independence. Deficits have come down rapidly, an important contribution to stabilization. Given, however, the unexpectedly severe revenue decline and limited financing, the stabilization...

Oil-producing countries face challenges arising from the fact that oil revenue is exhaustible, volatile, and uncertain, and largely originates from abroad. Reflecting these challenges, the paper proposes some important general principles for the formulation and assessment of fiscal policy in...

This paper investigates the links between asset price movements and fiscal policy developments. Our findings suggest that fiscal policy makers have been responding to asset price movements as indicated by fiscal policy reaction functions. Nevertheless, while asset price movements contribute to...

In this study, we show that the main problem facing the Eurozone economy is the relatively low competitiveness of the PIIGS economies. Findings show that the defining trait of PIIGS countries is neither budget deficits, nor public debt, but rather the current account deficits. We argue that,...

Economic crises in recent years, might be seen as a natural result of governments’ unsustainable policies. Fiscal sustainability refers to the ability to maintain the government's current policies. The aim of this study is with the aid of intertemporal borrowing constraint approach imposed by...

In this paper we construct Financial Conditions Indices (FCIs) for the euro area, for the period 2003 to 2011, using a wide range of prices, quantities, spreads and survey data, grounded in the theoretical literature. One FCI includes monetary policy variables, while two versions of the FCI...

This paper studies the links between of financial soundness indicators and financial crisis episodes controlling for several macroeconomic and fiscal variables in 20 OECD. We focus our attention on aggregate capital adequacy, asset quality and bank profitability indicators compiled by the IMF....

We formulate and estimate a simple fiscal policy reaction function for the euro area and individual euro area countries. Our reaction function allows for primary surpluses to feature three components: an anti-cyclical response of primary surpluses to the output gap, a response to the debt-GDP...

This paper examines how the adoption of a fiscal rule affects the sustainability of fiscal policy in two OECD countries; Australia and Sweden. While recent fiscal reforms undertaken in both these countries are useful for ensuring the sustainability of government budgets, there are a few...