This paper examines the evolution of Australian fiscal policy and the fiscal policy framework over the past quartercentury. Following the early 1980s recession, a sustained fiscal consolidation saw the general government budget balance (for all levels of government) move from a deficit of 3½...

An immortal, intertemporally optimizing consumer, who is ignorant of the link between bonds and future taxes, is exposed to the changing level of U.S. federal government debt over the thirty years, 1961-90. Estimates of the cost of ignorance are about $1 to $10 per annum. Provided governments do...