As regards the frequently mentioned risks connected with the EU entry, we feel that the analyzed macroeconomic data do not confi rm that these risks have materialized. The example of the Czech Republic, which joined the EU in 2004, conversely points to an improvement of most macroeconomic...

Succeeding the conservative José Maria Aznar, the socialist Luis Rodriguez Zapatero became Prime Minister in March 2004. Economics? growth was strong with an important reduction of unemployment and a public deficit close to zero, but many imbalances were pointed out (low productivity, high...

Alan Peacock describes his entry into postwar British Economics, as an undergraduate at St. Andrews and a lecturer at London School of Economics. His personal involvement with, and development of, Public Economics is outlined.

We draw on a newly collected historical dataset of fiscal variables for a large panel of countries—to our knowledge, the most comprehensive database currently available—to gauge the degree of fiscal prudence or profligacy for each country over the past several decades....

Whenever you are faced with issues such as the economic growth and the development of a country, among the many economic meanings and not that are questioned as possible obstacles, there is always a particular one: corruption. It is well known that the presence of corruption, mainly in the...

Since the beginning of the crisis, which occurred in 2008, the European Union has taken a series of measures to stem the financial crisis. One of these has been the Fiscal Compact. The Fiscal Compact is an International Treaty signed by 25 countries of the European Union. Ever since it was...

We investigate the relation between changes in tax composition and long-run economic growth using a new dataset covering a broad cross-section of countries with different income levels. We specifically consider 69 countries with at least 20 years of observations on total tax revenue during the...

We develop a model to study the macroeconomic effects of public investment surges in low-income countries, making explicit: (i) the investment-growth linkages; (ii) public external and domestic debt accumulation; (iii) the fiscal policy reactions necessary to ensure debt-sustainability; and (iv)...

Latin American experts demonstrate how market-friendly measures in key policy areas can promote greater equity and efficiency. By identifying win-win strategies, the authors challenge the conventional wisdom that there is always a tradeoff between these two objectives. This volume shows how...