This paper examines the impact of budgetary institutions on public finances in the European Union on the basis of a critical survey of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature. In general, the authors find that fiscal institutions (namely fiscal rules) have successfully contributed to...

With this paper, our objective is to empirically study public debt sustainability by estimating a fiscal reaction function where the primary balance relative to GDP is assumed to be a function of the public debt to GDP ratio of the previous year and of other macroeconomic variables. In...

In this paper we construct Financial Conditions Indices (FCIs) for the euro area, for the period 2003 to 2011, using a wide range of prices, quantities, spreads and survey data, grounded in the theoretical literature. One FCI includes monetary policy variables, while two versions of the FCI...

With this paper, our objective is to empirically study public debt sustainability by estimating a fiscal reaction function where the primary balance relative to GDP is assumed to be a function of the public debt to GDP ratio of the previous year and of other macroeconomic variables. In...

The goal of this study is to analyze the evolution of government gross debt as a % of the GDP and government deficit as a % of the GDP across European countries. In particular, this study compares the evolution of government gross debt as a % of the GDP of European countries within and outside...

The paper discusses the impact of austerity policy on economic performance in the eurozone countries after the global crisis that occurred in 2007-08. The undertaken fiscal consolidation efforts to cut government expenditure and increase government taxes which begun in 2010, aimed to return...

There have been many attempts at solving the problem of determining the “fundamental value” of the credit spread of a government bond. This is particularly important in the case of Eurozone, where the ECB intervention on the government bonds' market is allowed only if the “spread” paid...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the pressure it has created on member states’ public finances have led European authorities to suspend the EU’s fiscal rules. In fact, these rules had long been criticised by academics and had only been abided by exceptionally. Beyond the rules themselves, the...

We formulate and estimate a simple fiscal policy reaction function for the euro area and individual euro area countries. Our reaction function allows for primary surpluses to feature three components: an anti-cyclical response of primary surpluses to the output gap, a response to the debt-GDP...

This paper reviews the evolution of the Economic and Monetary Union from its inception in 1992 with the Treaty of Maastricht to the most recent reforms adopted in 2013 to respond to the eurocrisis. The paper describes the evolution of the four pillar of economic governance: the surveillance and...