EU fiscal rules are a highly divisive topic. Although there is a broad consensus that rules are needed to ensure a smooth functioning of the euro area, views very much diverge over the effectiveness of current arrangements and over how and when to move ahead. This paper reviews the debate around...

This paper investigates the cross-section growth preformance of 107 European Regions from 1970 to 1990. While previous work has traditionally focused on the cross-section or the time series dimension of the data, this study uses a more general approach based on Markov chains. The observed...

The issue addressed in this paper is how robust dynamically efficient steady state equilibria in a 55 period overlapping generations economy are to changes in the parametrization of the model. Numerical simulations are used to detect parameter constellations which lead to non Pareto optimal...

EU fiscal rules are meant to keep public finances on a sustainable path. This paper presents a new database that tracks numerical compliance with the four main rules of the Stability and Growth Pact starting in 1998. Our assessment of numerical compliance abstracts from the many exceptions and...