Freedom of debt: the lessons of government finance before the Civil War -- A thousand dollar breakfast: the limits of war financing by elites -- Patriotism and profit: Jay Cooke and the democratization of debt -- The sale of American stocks constitutes the chief business at the Bourse: foreign...

The paper analyses theoretically what role fiscal councils could play and surveys empirically the activities of existing councils. Case studies of the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council and the UK Office for Budget Responsibility are done. It is concluded that fiscal councils should be advisory,...