IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v12y2024i11p295-d1509328.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Expenditure Rules: Limiting the Level or the Variation of Public Expenditure?

Author

Listed:
  • Séverine Menguy

    (Faculté Sociétés et Humanités, Université Paris Cité, 75270 Paris CEDEX 06, France)

Abstract

The main goal of the first-generation expenditure rules was to ensure fiscal discipline: preserving a sound fiscal framework and public debt sustainability. Regarding this goal, analytically as well as empirically, limiting the share of public expenditure in GDP would be more appropriate in case of weak potential economic growth or if the public expenditure-to-GDP ratio is high. On the contrary, limiting the variation of public expenditure would be more appropriate for countries with high potential economic growth or with a weak public expenditure-to-GDP ratio. The second goal of expenditure rules is to contribute to sustaining economic activity. Regarding this goal, limiting the level of public expenditure appears as more favorable than limiting the variation of public expenditure. Indeed, a rule in terms of variation could hamper economic growth, especially for countries with a high public expenditure-to-GDP ratio.

Suggested Citation

  • Séverine Menguy, 2024. "Expenditure Rules: Limiting the Level or the Variation of Public Expenditure?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-21, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:12:y:2024:i:11:p:295-:d:1509328
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/11/295/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/12/11/295/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruck, Tilman & Zwiener, Rudolf, 2006. "Fiscal policy rules for stabilisation and growth: A simulation analysis of deficit and expenditure targets in a monetary union," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 357-369, May.
    2. Schuknecht, Ludger, 2004. "EU fiscal rules: issues and lessons from political economy," Working Paper Series 421, European Central Bank.
    3. Chistoph Grosse-Steffen & Laura Pagenhardt & Malte Rieth, 2021. "Committed to Flexible Fiscal Rules," Working papers 854, Banque de France.
    4. Joaquim Ayuso i Casals, 2012. "National Expenditure Rules – Why, How and When," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 473, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    5. Alessandro Turrini, 2008. "Fiscal policy and the cycle in the Euro Area: The role of government revenue and expenditure," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 323, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    6. Mr. Luc Eyraud & Mr. Xavier Debrun & Andrew Hodge & Victor Duarte Lledo & Ms. Catherine A Pattillo, 2018. "Second-Generation Fiscal Rules: Balancing Simplicity, Flexibility, and Enforceability," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2018/004, International Monetary Fund.
    7. Till Cordes & Mr. Tidiane Kinda & Ms. Priscilla S Muthoora & Miss Anke Weber, 2015. "Expenditure Rules: Effective Tools for Sound Fiscal Policy?," IMF Working Papers 2015/029, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Julia del Amo Valor & Marcos Martín Mateos & Diego Martínez López & Javier J. Pérez, 2023. "Is the European economic governance framework too “complex”? A critical discussion," Working Papers 2023-06, FEDEA.
    2. Herrero-Alcalde, Ana & Martín-Román, Javier & Tránchez-Martín, José Manuel & Moral-Arce, Ignacio, 2024. "Fiscal rules to the test: The impact of the Spanish expenditure rule," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Hauptmeier, Sebastian & Sanchez-Fuentes, A. Jesus & Schuknecht, Ludger, 2011. "Towards expenditure rules and fiscal sanity in the euro area," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 597-617, July.
    4. Afonso, António & Huart, Florence & Tovar Jalles, João & Stanek, Piotr, 2022. "Twin deficits revisited: A role for fiscal institutions?," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    5. Reuter, Wolf Heinrich, 2019. "When and why do countries break their national fiscal rules?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 125-141.
    6. Carranza-Ugarte, Luis & Díaz-Saavedra, Julián & Galdon-Sanchez, Jose Enrique, 2023. "Rethinking fiscal rules," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 833-857.
      • Luis Carranza Ugarte & Julian Diaz Saavedra & Jose Enrique Galdon-Sanchez, 2021. "Rethinking fiscal rules," ThE Papers 21/14, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    7. Ryota Nakatani, 2021. "Fiscal Rules for Natural Disaster- and Climate Change-Prone Small States," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-26, March.
    8. Andrián, Leandro & Hirs-Garzon, Jorge & Urrea, Ivan Leonardo & Valencia, Oscar, 2024. "Fiscal rules and economic cycles: Quality (always) Matters," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    9. Hauptmeier, Sebastian & Rother, Philipp & Holm-Hadulla, Fédéric, 2010. "The impact of numerical expenditure rules on budgetary discipline over the cycle," Working Paper Series 1169, European Central Bank.
    10. Valencia, Oscar & Ulloa-Suarez, Carolina, 2022. "Numerical Compliance with Fiscal Rules in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12405, Inter-American Development Bank.
    11. Carolina Ulloa-Suárez, 2022. "Determinants of compliance with fiscal rules: misplaced efforts or hidden motivations?," AMSE Working Papers 2220, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    12. Ginters Bušs & Patrick Grüning & Oļegs Tkačevs, 2024. "Choosing the European fiscal rule," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 24(1), pages 116-144.
    13. F. Holm-Hadulla & S. Hauptmeier & P. Rother, 2012. "The impact of expenditure rules on budgetary discipline over the cycle," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(25), pages 3287-3296, September.
    14. Carolina Ulloa-Suarez & Oscar Valencia, 2022. "Do governments stick to their announced fiscal rules? A study of Latin American and the Caribbean countries," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03994711, HAL.
    15. Cezara Vinturis, 2019. "A multi-speed fiscal Europe? Fiscal Rules and Fiscal Performance in the EU Former Communist Countries," Working Papers hal-03097483, HAL.
    16. Ulloa-Suárez, Carolina, 2023. "Determinants of compliance with fiscal rules: Misplaced efforts or hidden motivations?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    17. Landon, Stuart & Smith, Constance, 2017. "Does the design of a fiscal rule matter for welfare?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 226-237.
    18. L. Marattin & S. Meraglia, 2016. "Potential Output and Fiscal Rules in a Monetary Union under Asymmetric Information 2nd ed," Working Papers wp1063, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    19. Sawadogo, Pegdéwendé Nestor, 2020. "Can fiscal rules improve financial market access for developing countries?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    20. Potrafke, Niklas, 2025. "The economic consequences of fiscal rules," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:12:y:2024:i:11:p:295-:d:1509328. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.