The debate over legal requirements of a balanced federal budget has gained new life. A requirement would have strong implications for future fiscal policy. Done right, a requirement will allow Congress to combine a balanced budget with policy goals such as growth and full employment. Done wrong,...

Aufgrund der seit langem geführten Debatte um das Für und Wider der Nutzung des Politikinstruments der Staatsverschuldung wissen wir recht viel darüber, was Experten (z. B. Finanzpolitiker/‌-‍wissenschaftler) von Haushaltskonsolidierung, Deficit-Spending oder Verschuldungsgrenzen halten....

We implement a meta-regression-analysis for the budgetary impact of numerical fiscal rules. Based on 30 studies published in the last decade, we offer a consensus estimate with respect to the level of statistical significance, provide suggestive evidence for the effect size, and identify study...

We implement a meta-regression-analysis for the budgetary impact of numerical fiscal rules. Based on 30 studies published in the last decade, we offer a consensus estimate with respect to the level of statistical significance, provide suggestive evidence for the effect size, and identify study...

Fiscal rules are a frequent policy measure to restrict deficit-taking among incumbent politicians. In times of increased and sustained investment needs to mitigate the consequences of climate change, and to promote the digital and structural transformation, fiscal rules have become subject to...

Which factors explain voters' evaluations of policy responses to economic shocks? We explore this question in the context of mass preferences over the distribution of disaster relief and evaluate three theoretical arguments related to fairness norms that highlight affectedness, need, and...

This paper aims to fully exploit the heuristic virtues of Keynes’ famous ‘old bottles’ story, deploying a multi-layered argument and drawing out its broadest implications. We show that with this story Keynes was making a very serious point about anti-crisis policies: the need for...

Ministry of Finance advisers play a crucial role in managing public finance matters, acting as a bridge between bureaucratic and political realms. This article aims to identify the essential skills and experiences that advisers must possess and how these professional qualities relate to their...

In this paper, the author considers sovereign debt in the form of one-period government bonds with default risk, which can be purchased by and traded among domestic and foreign investors. She shows that the "good equilibrium" is the only stable equilibrium under some quite general assumptions,...