The Stability and Growth Pact is under fire. Problems have appeared in sticking to the rules. Proposals to reform the Pact or ditch it altogether abound. But is the Pact a flawed fiscal rule? Against established criteria for an ideal fiscal rule, its design and compliance mechanisms fare...

Solid budgetary discipline is an essential condition for the success of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The “Excessive Deficit Procedure” and the “Stability and Growth Pact” allow some flexibility for the conduct of budgetary policies during severe economic slowdowns. The paper...

The Stability and Growth Pact has been under fire ever since it was born. But is the Pact a flawed fiscal rule? Against established criteria for an ideal fiscal rule, its design and compliance mechanisms show strengths and weaknesses. The latter tend to reflect trade-offs typical of...

The Stability and Growth Pact is under fire. Problems have appeared in sticking to the rules. Proposals to reform the Pact or ditch it altogether abound. But is the Pact a flawed fiscal rule? Against established criteria for an ideal fiscal rule, its design and compliance mechanisms fare...

Fiscal discipline to safeguard the credibility of the single monetary authority and fiscal flexibility to respond to country-specific shocks are two core principles governing budgetary policy in EMU. The Stability and Growth Pact aims at ensuring the first objective. To comply with the...

The Stability and Growth Pact is under fire. Some countries are meeting major problems in sticking to the rules. Proposals to reform the Pact or ditch it altogether abound. The alleged weaknesses of the Pact tend to reflect trade-offs typical of supra-national arrangements. This aspect has to be...

EMU is a completely new policy regime which has significant economic implications and which, it is hoped, will ultimately enhance the role of Europe on the world stage. EMU and Economic Policy in Europe takes stock of the initial experiences of EMU and assesses the challenges which will have to...

The volume collects the essays presented at the 14th Workshop on Public Finance organised by Banca d'Italia in Perugia from 29 to 31 March 2012. The workshop focused on the interaction between fiscal policy and growth and was organised in four sessions. The first session dealt with the...

The volume collects the essays presented at the 13th Workshop on Public Finance organised by Banca d'Italia in Perugia on 31 March-2 April 2011. The workshop concentrated on the measures aimed at guaranteeing sustainable budget policies in the aftermath of the global crisis started in 2008,...

The book brings together a series of research papers presented at a workshop on "The trends of Italy's international tourism", held at the Bank of Italy in Rome on 22 June 2012, on occasion of the release, on Bank of Italy's website, of microdata from the Survey on international tourism in...