We discuss two essential problems of the political economy of public finances: The principal agent problem between voters and elected politicians and the common pool problem arising from the fact that money drawn from a general tax fund is used to pay for policies targeting more or less narrow...

This paper uses a new data set on budgetary institutions in Europe to examine the impact of fiscal rules and budget procedures in EU countries on public finances. It briefly describes the main pattern of budgetary institutions and their determinants across the EU 15 member states. Empirical...

Fiscal rules specify quantitative targets for key budgetary aggregates. In this paper, we review the experience with such rules in Japan and in the EU. Comparing the performance of fiscal policy in the 1980s and 1990s until 2003, we find that the fiscal rule of the 1980s exerted some but not...

After neutering the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) in 2005, recent developments pinpoint that financial markets considerably discriminate between qualities of European governmental borrowers. In this article we inquire whether and to what extent political statements and decisions within the...

Regierungen können Extrahaushalte gründen, um die Finanzierung staatlicher Aufgaben aus dem Kernhaushalt auszulagern. Die bis zum Jahr 2009 bestehende deutsche Schuldenregel sah eine Ausnahme für Extrahaushalte vor und deshalb bestanden für den Bund und die Länder Anreize zur Verschuldung...

This paper studies the impact of national fiscal rules on government size as measured by the ratio of government expenditures to gross domestic product. We develop a model of the budgetary process and show that a common pool problem may arise which can be mitigated through fiscal rules. We test...

Unter dem Begriff der „kalten Progression“ versteht man den Anstieg des durchschnittlichen Einkommensteuersatzes allein durch Lohn- und Einkommenserhöhungen, die die allgemeine Preissteigerung - also die Inflation - ausgleichen. Im Jahr 2013 lag die Belastung durch die kalte Progression am...

Do budget institutions play a role in explaining why government effectiveness is higher in some advanced countries than in others? Employing an original panel dataset that spans four different years (1991, 2003, 2007 and 2012) we find that budget centralization has a negative and significant...