Anders als die Bundesregierung es anzustreben scheint, ist eine Reform des Stabilitäts- und Wachstumspakts (SWP) nötig. Die Schuldenabbauregel zwingt hochverschuldete Euroländer zu einem zu schnellen und zu wachstumsschädlichen Schuldenabbau. Nur auf die Flexibilität des Pakts zu setzen,...

A number of tools have been suggested for solving the European sovereign debt crisis, in particular the options of leveraging the EFSF/ESM, introducing Eurobonds and a European Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Euro-TARP). However, it is unclear how these instruments will work, given jittery...

Die steigende Staatsverschuldung in Deutschland und Europa ist höchst besorgniserregend. Da eine hohe Verschuldung mit einem hohen Anteil der Zinsausgaben an den Gesamtausgaben einhergeht, wird der Ausgabenspielraum für andere Politikbereiche geringer. Wird nicht rechtzeitig gegengesteuert,...

One possible solution to the sovereign debt crisis is the European Redemption Pact (ERP) proposed by the German Council of Economic Experts. The ERP provides sustainable financing conditions for participating sovereigns to facilitate bringing public debt ratios below the reference value of 60%...

This paper analyzes German and Spanish fiscal policy using simple policy rules. We choose Germany and Spain, as both are Member States in the European Monetary Union (EMU) and underwent considerable increases in public debt in the early 1990s.We focus on the question, how fiscal policy behaves...

The objective of this paper is to gain insights into the relationship between deficit-reducing policies and the evolution of the debt/GDP ratio. We consider past events of fiscal consolidation in a selected group of EU countries, by using the new data set recently made available by Devries et...

The financial crisis of 2008/2009 has left European economies with a sizeable public debt stock bringing back the question what factors help to reduce these fiscal imbalances. Using data for the period 1985-2009 this paper identifies factors determining major public debt reductions. On average,...

This paper looks at fiscal sustainability and fiscal risks from a comprehensive, global perspective. It argues that the benefits of consolidation have to be re-assessed given that industrialised countries have entered uncharted waters with unsustainable public debt dynamics and enormous...