Höppner and Kastrop examine the role of fiscal institutions and budgetary procedures in Germany with respect to the objective of safeguarding sound public finances in the long-run. The paper analyses the main factors underlying debt developments in Germany in recent decades. It also examines...

This paper investigates whether the socioeconomic status of the head of government helps explain fiscal performance. Applying sociological research that attributes differences in people's ways of thinking and acting to their relative standing within society, we test whether the social status of...