We examine fiscal adjustment episodes in 24 OECD countries in order to find how austerity affects debt and growth, and whether the choice of fiscal instrument matters for the results. Influential existing studies argue that spending cuts are more likely to successfully reduce debt and enhance...

A number of institutional and non-institutional factors, not only economically rational but also political and historical, have risen in the long after war debate about the public sector's expansion, size and structure. Obvious inefficiencies, mounting resistance to further increases of tax...

We re-examine the conventional view that to be successful, fiscal adjustments should rely on spending cuts and not on tax increases. We apply the Bai-Perron structural break filter instead of ad hoc rules to identify fiscal adjustments and their successfulness in 20 OECD countries. Our results...

We assess the specific need (or its absence) of a country to implement a fiscal consolidation programme by focusing specifically on their degree of success, notably in terms of fiscal sustainability. The "need" to consolidate is based on having a primary balance above or below the...

We analyze the effectiveness of an increase in government consumption for stimulating growth for diverse levels of public debt in the European Union. We conclude, that growth rate can be stimulated in the short run by an increase in government consumption but only at low levels of public debt....

The paper discusses the impact of austerity policy on economic performance in the eurozone countries after the global crisis that occurred in 2007-08. The undertaken fiscal consolidation efforts to cut government expenditure and increase government taxes which begun in 2010, aimed to return...

This paper provides a set of detailed estimated fiscal reaction functions for a panel of twenty industrialized countries, and it discusses commonalities and differences with regard to systematic fiscal policies across countries. In general, the countries in the panel adjust tax revenues strongly...

The subject of this paper is four Balkan countries (Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro) that are determined to join the European Union. More particularly, it looks at their work towards accomplishing the political, legal and economic requirements for the EU. Thus, the legislation with...

This paper is about fiscal consolidation measures (i.e. tax hikes and government spending cuts motivated by a desire to reduce the fiscal deficit and public debt) in euro area (EA) countries. The focus is on analysing the growth effects of fiscal adjustments as well as their implications for...

The purpose of this article is to identify changes in the development of national fiscal rules in response to the crisis, in terms of the new economic governance in the EU. In-depth analysis was carried out on the example of the three countries that have the highest Fiscal Rule Strength Index,...