The indicator that is commonly used to assess the long-term fiscal sustainability of public finances in EU member states ("S2") is also defined if government borrowing rates are assumed to be permanently lower than the growth rate of GDP. Under these circumstances, however, it no longer provides...

In this paper, relations between public debt, economic growth, and long-term interest rates in Switzerland from 1894 to 2014 are examined. For this purpose, an original long-term dataset on the general gross public debt in Switzerland, namely the aggregation of the Confederation gross debt, the...

Las principales propuestas de reforma del marco de política fiscal de la Unión Europea inciden en tres bloques de cuestiones: i) simplificación de las reglas, para dotarlas de mayor transparencia y flexibilidad; ii) incorporación de nuevos instrumentos supranacionales de compartición de...

Las principales propuestas de reforma del marco de política fiscal de la Unión Europea inciden en tres bloques de cuestiones: i) simplificación de las reglas, para dotarlas de mayor transparencia y flexibilidad; ii) incorporación de nuevos instrumentos supranacionales de compartición de...

The paper explores the extent to which the pressure of debt service on other spending items may push governments to embark on fiscal consolidation beyond what is strictly necessary to secure solvency. The empirical analysis identifies thresholds of interest bill indicators beyond which...

In recent years, the IMF has released a growing number of reports and other documents covering economic and financial developments and trends in member countries. Each report, prepared by a staff team after discussions with government officials, is published at the option of the member country.

According to the literature, two main factors sparked the European debt crisis: (1) macroeconomic imbalances originated by national governments and (2) institutional design flaws leading to feeble response by European authorities; still, economists disagree on the factors' strength. Using Bai...

Sustainability gaps ( S2 indicators) are frequently used in national and international reports to assess the sustainability of public finances. For instance, in the European Commission's Debt Sustainability Monitor (DSM) the indicators are analyzed in comparisons across (policy) scenarios,...

The structural approach adopted in this paper aims to trace out the evolution of public debt and deficits over a medium term horizon and its dynamic interaction with other key macroeconomic variables such as interest rate, inflation, trade gap and output. The policy simulations for India reveal...

Korean household debt has reached 148 percent of disposable income, high by emerging market standards. Most of this debt remains at variable rates, shifting the interest rate risk from better diversified financial institutions to households and increasing their sensitivity to macroeconomic...