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...

1. The Source and Evolution of Growth -- 2. Modern Growth Theory Arguments -- 3. Growth Prototypes and Economic Policy -- 4. Economic Policy Formation and Decision Making -- 5. The Determinants of Economic Policy Formation -- 6. Targets, Instruments and Policy Implementation -- 7. Institutional...

This is an attempt to derive broad, strategic lessons from the diverse experience with economic growth in last fifty years. The paper revolves around two key arguments. One is that neoclassical economic analysis is a lot more flexible than its practitioners in the policy domain have generally...