This paper explores the factors behind the time path of real spending and revenue in the West German states from 1975 to 2004. The empirical approach stresses robustness and takes into account a large set of economic and political variables. Our results suggest that common economic factors and,...

This paper explores the factors behind the time path of real spending and revenue in the West German states from 1975 to 2004. The empirical approach stresses robustness and takes into account a large set of economic and political variables. Our results suggest that common economic factors and,...

The paper deals with the current budget crisis in Germany, which was triggered by an attempt to increase public debt beyond the limits of the German constitution. The rejection of the Supplementary Budget 2021 of the federal government by the Constitutional Court in November 2023 requires a...

This paper explores the factors behind the time path of real spending and revenue in the West German states from 1975 to 2004. The empirical approach stresses robustness and takes into account a large set of economic and political variables. Our results suggest that common economic factors and,...

Currently fiscal policies in Germany seem to be in a very comfortable position and the German Debt Brake is regarded as an institutional precondition for this success and has been exported to the Euro area in the guise of the Fiscal Compact. In this paper we scrutinize German fiscal policies and...

The Euro area is currently going through its worst period of recession and economic stagnation since the Great Depression and World War II. The article tries to give an impression of the extraordinary degree of fiscal austerity and the devastating economic effects it has already had and must be...

In response to the recent sovereign debt crisis, the member states of the European Union agreed to enact balanced budget rules in their national legislation. However, little is known about the public's opinion of balanced budget rules. To fill this gap, we conducted a survey among 2,000...

The German debt brake is often regarded as a great success story, and has therefore served as a role model for the Euro area and its fiscal compact. In this paper we fundamentally criticize the debt brake. We show that (1) it suffers from serious shortcomings, and its success is far from certain...

This paper assesses the economic implications of existing fiscal rules in Poland, Switzerland and Germany. In the analysis we establish economic relationships between output, government revenues and expenditures estimating a VAR model on US data for the years 1960–2015. Imposing fiscal...

We examine the contrasting evolution of government debt-GDP ratio for Germany and Japan. While Germany contained the growth of its debt-GDP ratio close to its sustainability level over a long period, Japan has slipped away towards non-sustainability. This is due to the behaviour of primary...