This paper proposes an approach to assess the extent of automatic fiscal stabilisation of aggregate household disposable income after a specific shock. The approach is based on the national account identity of household disposable income and elements of the OECD methodology to cyclically adjust...

Building on the automatic fiscal stabilisers literature, this paper assesses how automatic stabilisers have evolved over the past two decades by analysing changes in the personal income tax and social benefit systems. In three-quarters of the 35 OECD countries analysed, indicators of the...

This paper presents a framework for analysing the evolution of the structural government deficit estimated using the official EU methodology relevant for the Stability and Growth Pact. The focus of our framework lies in the analysis of the main driving forces of changes in estimated structural...

It is largely recognised that fiscal policy will have larger responsibilities for cyclical stabilisation in EMU given the loss of the monetary instrument. At the same time, the EMU's budgetary framework emphasises the need to rely on automatic fiscal stabilisers, rather than active policies in...

Comparing the two significant recessions Israel experienced over the last decade, we highlight the importance of sustained fiscal discipline and credible monetary policy during normal times for expanding the set of policy options available at a time of need. In the first recession Israel was...

We demonstrate that the cyclical behaviour of markups is related to the cyclical behaviour of government spending. For plausible parameter assumptions, pro-cyclical spending results in less counter-cyclical mark-ups. Evidence for thirteen OECD countries confirms a weak version of this hypothesis

The Swiss debt brake is widely appreciated as one of the most rationally designed fiscal rules in the world and was thus also discussed as blueprint in the debates about fiscal rules in Germany, the European Union member states and Israel. However, evidence that this rule really contributes to...

We review the determinants of the discretionary fiscal policy action of governments in the euro area and in other advanced economies during the past 20 years. This is done by estimating fiscal reaction functions using dynamic panel techniques and country-by-country estimates. The results suggest...

This paper provides a quantitative study of the main determinants of the Greek great depression since 2010. We use a medium-scale DSGE model calibrated to the Greek economy between 2000 and 2009 (the euphoria years that followed the adoption of the euro). Then, departing from 2010, our...

This paper investigates how numerical fiscal rules affect government investment in the EU and disentangles their effect over the business cycle. Public investment seems to be generally susceptible to cutbacks during recessions. Fiscal rules demonstrate heterogeneous effects, depending on their...