Swedish public finances have shown considerable cycles, in response to economic activity, during the last decades. The budget cycles have been asymmetric in the sense that surpluses during expansions have been smaller than deficits during recessions. This has lead to a trend increase in public...

If Sweden becomes member of the European currency union, the conditions for fiscal policy will change. The stabilization policy objectives will, however, hardly change with a membership. At the same time it is not clear if the need for stabilizing the Swedish economy will increase or decrease....

The paper by Hansson Brusewitz and Lindh describes the Swedish reform of the budget process undertaken in the late Nineties and discusses the experiences since then. Central features of the reformed budget process are a “top-down” budgetary process, which assigns a clear role to the Ministry...

Yngve Lindh and Gösta Ljungman focus on the scope for stabilisation policies in the context of the strict Swedish fiscal framework, characterized by three mutually supportive elements: a surplus target for general government, a multi annual nominal expenditure ceiling for the central government...