This paper attempts to provide a framework to explain both the lower share of current spending in large fiscal adjustments and the potential expansionary effects of fiscal contractions. We distinguish between current spending and productivity enhancing public investments and analyze the...

The global economic crisis that broke out in 2008 has reawakened interest in fiscal policy. In the early stages of the crisis, there was a widespread turn to countercyclical fiscal stimulus. Furthermore, the recent euro area crisis has underlined the importance of long-term fiscal sustainability...

As the year 2012 unfolds, its main legacy will be its game changing impact on global financial markets. Waning global growth along with central banksÕ bold monetary easing policies in advanced economies (AEs) to try to reverse it are changing market dynamics in unexpected ways, across both AEs...

Mongolia’s mineral-rich economy was hit extremely hard by the global downturn during 2008–9, when copper prices plunged, external demand fell, and growth collapsed. The shock exposed serious underlying weaknesses in the management of the country’s natural resource wealth,...

We analyse potential sources of internal imbalances, specifically as regards private and public indebtedness. The combination of a high public debt and increasing private sector indebtedness have been a source of concern in the perspective of the funding of the economy in examined countries. We...

Pakistan has experienced high fiscal deficits for over two decades. The accumulation of debt over this period implies that a substantial adjustment will be required to attain a sustainable fiscal position over the medium term. By simulating an estimated macroeconomic model for Pakistan, this...

This paper reviews the main macroeconomic trends and the debate on policy priorities in Italy since the advent of EMU. It argues that, in the decade up to the outbreak of the global crisis (1998-2007), in Italy the reform process came to a virtual standstill and fiscal policy was inconsistent...

Este documento diagnosticó los principales factores que afectaron al comportamiento de las finanzas públicas de Cali. Para su análisis se utilizó la evolución y la caracterización de dieciocho indicadores de capacidad fiscal y financiera tomados de la evidencia internacional y nacional,...

This paper studies welfare effects of a soft borrowing constraint on sovereign debt. The constraint is modeled as a proportional fine per unit of debt in excess of a specified reference value, resembling features of the Stability and Growth Pact. Sovereign debt is the result of myopic fiscal...

Sweden is one of the countries with the largest public fiscal intervention and narrowest income inequality in the world. This article investigates to what extent these two features are interconnected and whether economic growth affects and is affected by this relationship. Empirical results from...