We investigate the behavior of consumer confidence around national elections in the EU-15 countries during 1985:1-2007:3. Consumer confidence increases before the date of elections and falls subsequently by almost the same amount. It is able to predict the strength of the performance of the...

This paper analyzes the median voter's most preferred sequences of labor taxes in the standard neoclassical growth model. We consider an infinite horizon economy in which agents are heterogeneous with respect to both initial wealth and labor skills. We start by providing a set of sufficient...

This paper reviews the role of accounting in budget system reform from the perspective of emerging economies who wish to adopt the OECD`s performance budgeting reforms. While many OECD countries, pursuing the reforms associated with the New Public Management, have moved their accounting systems...

Many emerging market economies are trying to improve their budget processes and move to performance-based budgeting. This paper first reviews the evolution of the quot;newquot; performance budgeting model, increasingly being applied in industrial countries. By identifying its main components,...

In reviewing the means to strengthen public expenditure management (PEM) systems, there has been increased emphasis on the micro basis of broader budget system reforms, especially reforms of the internal financial management systems in government agencies. Specifically in transition economies,...

This paper documents the main elements of the new budget system established in the Russian Federation through its revised budget system law, or the Budget Code, of 2000. It critically examines the budget preparation, budget approval, and budget execution processes, as well as the financial...

This paper examines the process of budget system reform involved in moving from traditional centralized input-oriented systems to more modern devolved performance-based systems, focusing on the constraint of limited managerial capacity. The latter is identified both as that required to operate...

We analyze the extent to which simple markets can be used to aggregate disperse information into efficient forecasts of uncertain future events. Drawing together data from a range of prediction contexts, we show that market-generated forecasts are typically fairly accurate, and that they...

While there has been considerable research on the consequences of financial crises, there has been little empirical research on the possible effects of the role of domestic political institutions that influence a government's ability to implement crisis management policies. This paper...

Distinguishing accurately pure macroeconomic stabilization policies from election-motivated manipulations might be a difficult task within the framework of regression analysis. This paper attempts to demonstrate that the simple introduction of frequency-domain perspective provides a direct means...