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Consistent Flexibility: Enforcement of Fiscal Rules through Political Incentives

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  • Valerio Dotti
  • Eckhard Janeba

Abstract

We study the optimal design of a fiscal rule in a model in which the government is present-biased, shocks to tax revenues make rule compliance stochastic, and a rule violation reduces the payoff from holding office. We show that: i) the benchmark policy of the social planner can be always implemented via an optimal nonlinear fiscal rule and under certain conditions even under a linear rule; ii) the optimal rule prescribes a zero structural deficit but only partially accounts for shocks; and iii) a government with a stronger ex-ante deficit bias should be granted a higher degree of flexibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Valerio Dotti & Eckhard Janeba, 2020. "Consistent Flexibility: Enforcement of Fiscal Rules through Political Incentives," CESifo Working Paper Series 8440, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8440
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    fiscal rules; flexibility; policy design; deficit bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General

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