We review the main budgetary measures not accepted by the Portuguese Constitutional Court in the Budget Laws of 2012, 2013 and 2014. Considering the feedback effect of the fiscal impulse, the impact on the budget balance is -0.42% and of -0.34% of GDP respectively for 2013 and for 2014; in both...

This article presents an evaluation of the economic adjustment program negotiated between the Portuguese government and the Troika (European Commission, ECB and IMF) in May 2011, with an assessment different from the usual exercises. Instead of an ex-post comparison between the actual results...

We assess the sustainability of public finances in OECD countries using panel unit root and cointegration analyses. Results show: no cointegration (no sustainability) between revenues and expenditures; improvement of the primary balances after worsening debt ratios; causality from government...

Using static and dynamic panel estimates in a sample including all 28 European Union countries during the last decade, this paper seeks to improve upon the existing literature with empirical evidence on the important role that well-functioning EU banking institutions can play in promoting...

In this paper, we develop a Listian model of economic development. The economy consists of a primary sector and a potential industrial sector that can arise via industrialization. Industrialization however depends on if the primary sector specializes on the primary product, which can lead to a...

In this paper we assess the determinants of revenue forecast errors for the EU-15 between 1999 and 2012, based on the forecasts published bi-annually by the European Commission. Our results show that personal income rate changes increase the revenue forecast errors: for forecasts made in t for...

Numerical fiscal rules mitigate the bias of pro-cyclicality, as an alternative to discretionary measures conducted by policy makers. We assess whether fiscal rules impact budget balances and sovereign yields, and we perform a simulation exercise to compute debt developments of EU countries,...

We investigate the relevance of the characteristics of Ministers of Finance as an influence on the development of stock returns, sovereign yields and fiscal outcomes, which result from the implementation of their fiscal policies. For a panel of 27 EU countries, covering the period of 1980-2012,...

Since the beginning of the sovereign debt crisis in the Euro Area, a main concern for European leaders is the prevention of the possible contagion from distressed countries. In our research, we assess if there is a spillover effect from those countries and which determinants can be considered...

The rapid ageing of the population, particularly in the developed world, accentuates the importance of both the family and of private intergenerational transfers, whether this be due to the longer periods of coexistence resulting from longer life expectancy or the threat posed to the very...