Public debts in the euro area have increased sharply due to the economic crisis, and remain at historically high levels in several countries. In a monetary union, high-debt members represent a permanent threat to financial stability, as they are subject – even if fundamentally solvent – to...

We derive the optimal fiscal policy for a government that is committed to honoring its debt but faces investors which fear a sovereign default. We assume that investors are able to learn from new evidence, as in Marcet and Sargent (1989), so that they can gradually correct their overly...

We provide an estimate of the burden that current policies impose to present and future generations of Italians. Based on our computations, we argue that current fiscal policies are neither financially sustainable nor fair to future generations, due to the generous treatment awarded to past and...

We derive the optimal fiscal policy for a government which is committed to honour its debts but faces investors which fear that a sovereign default might instead happen. We assume that investors are able to learn from new evidence, as in Marcet and Sargent (1989), so that they can correct over...