This paper critically reviews the literature which explains why and under which circumstances governments accumulate more debt than it would be consistent with optimal fiscal policy. We also discuss numerical rules or institutional designs which might lead to a moderation of these distortions

Financial institutions have both investors and customers. Investors, such as those who invest in stocks and bonds or private/public-sector guarantors of institutions, expect an appropriate risk-adjusted return in exchange for the financing and risk-bearing that they provide. Customers of a...

Friedrich August von Hayek's memory and the esteem in which his work is held apply more to his political visions than they do to his economic and political analyses. Christopher Holl shows that this assessment does not do justice to Hayek's work. He comes to the conclusion that Hayek's cognitive...