Fiscal policy has become quite controversial in the post-Keynesian era, the debate over the Obama stimulus package being a contentious recent example. Some pundits go so far as to take the position that macroeconomic theory has failed to meaningfully progress in terms of providing useful...

This paper explores the optimal risk sharing arrangement between generations in an overlapping generations model with endogenous growth. We allow for nonseparable preferences, paying particular attention to the risk aversion of the old as well as overall life-cycle risk aversion. We provide a...

The analysis provides a new explanation for two widespread problems concerning European unemployment policy: the disappointingly small effect of many past reform measures on unemployment, and the political difficulties in implementing more extensive reform programs. We argue that the heart of...

Coordination is a fundamental principle for economic policy in the EU. There is a consensus that soft coordination (exchange of information, general guidelines for economic policy) is useful. Whether stabilization policies should be coordinated is another matter. Against the background of the...

The recent extensive package introduced by the Commission is the most comprehensive reinforcement of economic governance in the EU and the euro area since the launch of the Economic and Monetary Union. Broader and enhanced surveillance of fiscal policies, but also macroeconomic policies and...

The current instruments in the EU to deal with debt and liquidity crises include among others the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM). Both are temporary in nature (3 years). In terms of an efficient future crisis management...

Discretionary fiscal policies have arisen because of dominant Keynesian economic policies from 1930’s to 1970’s. Public expenditures intensively and excessively increased in order to ensure macroeconomic stability during this period. Many countries faced the emergence of macroeconomic...

We analyze how trading in secondary markets for public debt change the inherent links between monetary and fiscal policy, by studying both inflation and debt dynamics. When agents do not trade in these markets, there exists a unique steady state and traditional passive/active policy...

We analyze how trading in secondary markets for public debt change the inherent links between monetary and fiscal policy, by studying both inflation and debt dynamics. When agents do not trade in these markets, there exists a unique steady state and traditional passive/active policy...

We analyze how trading in secondary markets for public debt change the inherent links between monetary and fiscal policy, by studying both inflation and debt dynamics. When agents do not trade in these markets, there exists a unique steady state and traditional passive/active policy...