In Germany, two observations can be tracked over the past 15 to 20 years: First, income inequality has constantly increased while, second, the average household size has been declining dramatically. The analysis of income distribution relies on equivalence-weighted incomes, which take into...

The international monitoring of public finances in EMU member states is an essential element of the Stability and Growth Pact. Part of evaluating government budgets involves determining the sustainability of the envisaged consolidation measures. The academic and political debate on this topic...

This paper shall give an overview of the implications to the sectoral balances stemming from the implementation of the Fiscal Compact in the Euro area in 2013. Since there is noew a more or less strict limit to deficit spending - absent from cyclical factors - some other sector has to make up...

When monitoring, interpreting and assessing budget policy decisions and developments, the public authorities' financial balance has always played a prominent role. The Maastricht Treaty on European Union and the provisions contained therein on budgetary criteria and reference values gave rise to...