Balassone, Franco, Momigliano and Monacelli examine the process of fiscal consolidation in Italy during the Nineties. They highlight its success in reversing a trend that could have led to public debt default, and in ensuring the early participation of Italy to monetary union. The authors argue...

The paper by Maria Rosaria Marino, Daniela Monacelli and Stefano Siviero proposes a methodology for evaluating the implications of changes in tax structure for automatic stabilisation. The approach is similar to the one used in the recent literature on optimal monetary policy rules. The features...