This paper attempts to evaluate the effects of fiscal policy announcements by the Italian government on the long-term sovereign bond spread of Italy relative to Germany. After collecting data on relevant fiscal policy announcements, we perform an econometric comparative analysis between the...

This paper assesses the optimality of U.S. fiscal policy from 1960 to 2010. With this purpose, we present a tractable neoclassical economy with a benevolent government and characterize time-consistent, optimal fiscal policy. We then compare the model's prescriptions for income tax rates and...

During the recent economic crisis, many countries have adopted stimulus programs designed to achieve two goals: to stimulate economic activity in lagging durable goods sectors and to protect or even enhance environmental quality. The environmental benefits are often viewed and much advocated as...

In this paper, we assess the effects of fiscal policy in Japan using two dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models. One is a medium-scale DSGE model of Japan's economy ("M-JEM," Fueki et al., 2010) estimated using Bayesian techniques. The other is the IMF's multi-region "GIMF (Global...

This study presents an overlapping-generations model featuring endogenous growth, collective wage-bargaining, and probabilistic voting over fiscal policy. We charac- terize a Markov-perfect political equilibrium of the voting game within and across generations and show the following results....

This paper analyses the relationship between income inequality and economic growth through fiscal policy. To this end, we present and estimate two systems of structural equiation with error components through which gross income inequality determines different fiscal policy outcomes, which...

In this paper, we provide a test of the sustainability of the Spanish government deficit over the period 1850-2000, emphasizing the role played by monetary and fiscaldominance in order to get fiscal solvency. Since the condition of fiscal solvency was satisfied, government deficit would have...

Although the convergence criteria in the Maastricht Treaty led to the creation of the EMU and the euro area has resisted more than some of its critics believed, in the context of major macroeconomic imbalances, the issue of nominal convergence has been the subject of numerous research. This...

In this report we use our new dynamic computable general equilibrium model to analyse the impact of the personal tax cuts, cuts to small business taxes, and infrastructure spending that have been announced since late last year. We have assumed in this paper that the Government will need to raise...

A new report from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) highlights the unprecedented fiscal challenges that New Zealand politicians will face in coming decades. NZIER recommends that tough decisions around taxes and government spending need to be taken now, and stuck to, in...