Economists have traditionally used a simple rule that restricts primary deficits to less than a threshold given by the interest rate growth rate differential and existing debt level to judge fiscal sustainability. This rule derives from a single period application of the government's budget...

We find evidence of a non-linear relationship between stock-flow adjustmentsand debt levels that is different for low- and high-debt economies. Stockflowadjustments are largely a by-product of efficient public debt management.We study an alternative measure of interest costs on debt —...

"This outlook provides a focused assessment of the state of public capital in the major European countries and identifies areas where public investment could contribute more to stable and sustainable growth. A European Public Investment Outlook brings together contributions from a range of...

"This timely and insightful collection of essays written by economists from a range of academic and policy institutes explores the subject of public investment through two avenues. The first examines public investment trends and needs in Europe, addressing the initiatives taken by European...

In this paper we use an endogeneous-growth model with human capital and heterogeneous agents to analyse the relationship between fiscal federalism and economic growth. Results show that federalism, which allows education-related public good levels to be tailored on the human capital of...

Which effect the constitutional reform of the title V will have on the decentralization of resources to the Italian regions? This work, starting from a review of the scientific and political debate on the new constitutional text, aims to offer estimates on the to-tal amount of fiscal...

Do citizens engage in comparative performance evaluation across local governments? And if they do, how can we disentangle this behavior from other forms of strategic interactions among local governments or simple spatial correlation across neighboring jurisdictions? We use spatial econometrics...

Struggles over what a region receives, or should receive, from the budget of the central government are common to many countries. Discussions often focus on the measures of ‘net fiscal flows’ or ‘fiscal balances’ provided by the government or other actors. This unique...