Suchergebnisse

This dissertation, comprising three academic papers, deals with the trade-off between fiscal sustainability and macroeconomic stabilization. The first paper examines the specification of fiscal reaction functions: We argue that the fiscal response to public debt is varying over time, finding formal empirical evidence in favor. We then link this non-linear fiscal response to changes in the interest rate-growth differential and the level of public debt. The second paper takes time-varying parameter fiscal reaction functions to an out-of-sample forecast performance evaluation, embedding it in ...

This dissertation, comprising three academic papers, deals with the trade-off between fiscal sustainability and macroeconomic stabilization. The first paper examines the specification of fiscal reaction functions: We argue that the fiscal response to public debt is varying over time, finding formal empirical evidence in favor. We then link this non-linear fiscal response to changes in the interest rate-growth differential and the level of public debt. The second paper takes time-varying parameter fiscal reaction functions to an out-of-sample forecast performance evaluation, embedding it in ...

What are fiscal policy rules? What are the principal benefits and drawbacks associated with various fiscal rules, particularly compared with alternative approaches to fiscal adjustment? Can fiscal rules contribute to long-run sustainability and welfare without sacrificing short-run stabilization? If so, what characteristics of fiscal rules make this contribution most effective? And in what circumstances and contexts, if any should the IMF encourage its member countries to adopt fiscal rules? This paper seeks to identify sensible fiscal policy rules that can succeed, if chosen by a member country, as an alternative to descretionary fiscal rules

This article examines some of the policies and assumptions behind the government's fiscal policies and family support.The responsibility for dependent children has become lost in a 'no mans land' somewhere between the wages system, the government, and the family itself.Of particular concern is the erosion of the real value of income, allowance and other support (eg. child care, refuges etc.) for poor families. Alongside the government's oft quoted concern for the needy has been the actual fall in wellbeing of those most in need (eg. single parents, the unemployed, low income families) while other more traditional family notions have been supported (eg. dependent spouse rebate). In some instances this redistribution has occurred through active policies (eg. family allowances) while in other cases they have come about by 'non policies' (eg. failure to index allowances for single parents).