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Fiscal integration as a Pareto improvement

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  • Bonfanti, Giovanni

Abstract

Fiscal integration in a currency union is generally understood as a transfer from fiscally strong to fiscally weak countries. I show that this changes when common debt is paired with a non-defaultable common tax, even if national debt remains defaultable. The risky country gains from intertemporal trade: it receives a grant financed by a perpetual obligation it discounts more heavily than lenders do. The cost to the safe member is second-order and the tax removes it by insuring imperfectly correlated cycles rather than transferring resources in expectation. The calibration delivers a narrow Pareto-improving region: the tax that eliminates the risky country’s perverse incentive to default is negligible, while the tax that compensates the safe country is an order of magnitude larger. Joint spending on a public good expands the region and reverses that ordering: the safe country gains even before the common budget balances. JEL Classification: F34, F36, F45, H63, H87

Suggested Citation

  • Bonfanti, Giovanni, 2026. "Fiscal integration as a Pareto improvement," Working Paper Series 3297, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20263297
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    JEL classification:

    • F34 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Lending and Debt Problems
    • F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration
    • F45 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Macroeconomic Issues of Monetary Unions
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods

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