This paper shows how the creation of ceilings on local public debt can increase economic activity. For identification, the paper exploits administrative micro data in conjunction with the introduction of a Mexican law limiting the amount of indebtedness of subnational governments. The analysis...

We study the consequences of a large-scale austerity program targeting financially-constrained municipalities in Germany. For identification, we exploit the quasi-random assignment of treatment among equally-distressed municipalities using a difference-in-differences design. The policy helped...

This paper investigates the heterogenous effects of budget balance rules on fiscal policy in a large sample of countries. To derive country-specific treatment effects of fiscal rules and conduct inference, we use a Synthetic Difference-in-Differences Method. Our results indicate that countries...