Tax expenditures are preferential tax treatments granted to specific individuals or categories of households which aim at achieving social and economic goals - poverty and inequality reduction, and employment promotion, among others. Tax expenditures are widely used by EU Member States. However,...

Tax expenditures are preferential tax treatments granted to specific individuals or categories of households which aim at achieving social and economic goals. They are widely used by EU Member States. However, their fiscal and equity impacts are not always clear and their effectiveness and...

"Designed to support specific groups and fields, tax expenditures are rapidly expanding, independently from direct expenditures with identical policy goals. However, without an integrated monitoring process, the interconnection between the two can sometimes weaken the goals they both seek. As...

We examine the evidence on episodes of large stances in fiscal policy, both in cases of fiscal stimuli and in that of fiscal adjustments in OECD countries from 1970 to 2007. Fiscal stimuli based upon tax cuts are more likely to increase growth than those based upon spending increases. As for...