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Fiscal Policy Rules and the Sustainability of Public Debt in Europe

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  • Stefan Collignon

Abstract

In this paper, the sustainability of public debt is interpreted as the result of the interaction of fiscal policy with the economic environment, and not as a statistical concept as in most of the recent literature. If debt must not explode over time, policy makers have to respond to the changing conditions in the macroeconomic environment. This paper defines the conditions which will ensure compliance of fiscal policy with the intertemporal budget constraint in the context of Europe’s fiscal policy rules. The empirical part of the paper reveals that European public debt is sustainable in this respect, but questions regarding liquidity remain.

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  • Stefan Collignon, 2010. "Fiscal Policy Rules and the Sustainability of Public Debt in Europe," RECON Online Working Papers Series 28, RECON.
    • Handle: RePEc:erp:reconx:p0086
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    Cited by:

    1. Jacob Engwerda & Davoud Mahmoudinia & Rahim Dalali Isfahani, 2016. "Government and Central Bank Interaction under Uncertainty: A Differential Games Approach," Iranian Economic Review (IER), Faculty of Economics,University of Tehran.Tehran,Iran, vol. 20(2), pages 225-259, Spring.
    2. Gilles Dufrénot & Carolina Ulloa Suarez, 2019. "Public finance sustainability in Europe: a behavioral model," AMSE Working Papers 1929, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    3. Olusegun Ayodele Akanbi & Rashid Sbia, 2018. "Investigating the twin-deficit phenomenon among oil-exporting countries: Does oil really matter?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 1045-1064, November.
    4. António Afonso & José Alves, 2017. "Stock-Flow Adjustments and Interest Rates," Working Papers Department of Economics 2017/05, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    5. Olusegun Akanbi, 2015. "Fiscal policy and current account in an oil-rich economy: the case of Nigeria," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1563-1585, June.
    6. Fofana, Ismael & Goundan, Anatole & Magne, Léa, 2014. "Simulation des impacts de la politique d’autosuffisance en riz de l’Afrique de l’ouest," Conference papers 332560, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    7. Ahmad Hassan Ahmad & Olalekan Bashir Aworinde, 2021. "Fiscal and External Deficits Nexus in GIIPS Countries: Evidence from Parametric and Nonparametric Causality Tests," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 27(3), pages 171-184, August.
    8. Dennis Bonam & Jasper Lukkezen, 2014. "Fiscal and Monetary Policy Coordination, Macroeconomic Stability, and Sovereign Risk," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 14-006/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    9. Robertson, D. & Tambakis, D., 2016. "Long-Run Debt Ratios with Fiscal Fatigue," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1674, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    10. María Lorena Marí Del Cristo & Marta Gómez-Puig, 2013. "Fiscal dynamics in a dollarized, oil-exporting country: Ecuador," Working Papers 13-06, Asociación Española de Economía y Finanzas Internacionales.
    11. repec:hal:journl:dumas-00909907 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Pierre-Richard Agénor & Devrim Yilmaz, 2012. "Simple Dynamics of Public Debt with Productive Public Goods," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 165, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    13. Ryo Arawatari & Tetsuo Ono, 2023. "International coordination of debt rules with time‐inconsistent voters," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 25(1), pages 29-60, February.
    14. Ismet GOCER & Mehmet MERCAN, 2016. "Which country after Greece? Sustainability of budget deficits in selected EU countries: A panel cointegration analysis with multiple structural breaks under cross-section dependence," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(3(608), A), pages 205-220, Autumn.
    15. Ismet GOCER & Mehmet MERCAN, 2016. "Which country after Greece? Sustainability of budget deficits in selected EU countries: A panel cointegration analysis with multiple structural breaks under cross-section dependence," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(3(608), A), pages 205-220, Autumn.
    16. Vladimir Arcabic, 2018. "Fiscal convergence and sustainability in the European Union," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 42(4), pages 353-380.
    17. André Sapir, 2020. "High Public Debt in the Euro Area: A Tale of Belgium and Italy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 672-687, May.
    18. Hernán Ricardo Briceño & Javier Perote, 2020. "Determinants of the Public Debt in the Eurozone and Its Sustainability Amid the Covid-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-29, August.

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    Keywords

    economic growth; economic integration; economic performance; Euro; EMU; fiscal policy; stability pact;
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