This paper is one of three in this Working Paper Series, along with those by Chouraqui et al. and Blanchard, in which the assessment of fiscal policy is reconsidered. It reviews the question of what type of budget indicators the OECD should compile. Instead of the cyclically-adjusted budget, it...

Boije and Fischer examine the role of fiscal indicators in the Swedish rules based budgetary framework, which requires that the general government budget position show a surplus of 2 per cent of GDP over the cycle. They consider the indicators developed by different institutions for measuring...

Brunila and Tujula suggest that estimating output gaps using a production function may be preferable in the presence of large structural breaks in the economy. In the Finnish experience, they show that the qualitative conclusions are not overly sensitive to the choice of method (HP filter or...

Woods examines the role of fiscal indicators in the UK fiscal policy framework. This includes the golden rule and the sustainable investment rule, requiring public sector net debt as a proportion of GDP to be held at a stable and prudent level over the economic cycle. Woods considers the wide...