Paul Hiebert and Massimo Rostagno explore the analytical links between EMU fiscal rules and the theory of fiscal sustainability with a focus on the transition to the equilibrium debt to GDP ratios implied by such rules. The authors argue that such a transition cannot be satisfactorily managed by...

Perez and Hiebert discuss the role of fiscal policy rules in macroeconomic models. They note that rules are designed to guarantee that the intertemporal budget constraint of the government is satisfied. Rules avoid explosive paths for the debt ratio and influence the adjustment of policy...

The methodological issues and econometric problems in the empirical assessment of the determinants of growth are systematically reviewed in the first part of the paper by Hiebert, Lamo, de Ávila and Vidal. In the second part, the authors assess empirically the long-run effects of fiscal policy...

The general acceleration of trade globalisation over the last decade - or a growing interdependence of economies via trade, production and financial market linkages - has engendered several macroeconomic implications for the euro area. This paper focuses on assessing the key impacts on the euro...

This paper examines the time varying dispersion in city house price levels across the four biggest euro area countries compared with those in the United States. Using available city-level data over the period 1987-2008, it tests for price convergence and analyses key factors explaining price...

This paper presents an optimal fiscal policy response to address the basic trade-off between the automatic stabilisation properties of budgets and the long run fiscal positions. The framework is an overlapping generations model a la Weil (1989), extended to account for stochastic endowments and...

In this paper, we present a model-based method for identifying fiscal closure rules in stochastic macroeconomic models. The methodology is based on the stability analysis of the model at hand, with an endogenous derivation of a reaction on the part of the fiscal authority to state variables in...