IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eea/boewps/wp2023-3.html

Fiscal performance under inflation and inflation surprises: evidence from fiscal reaction functions for the Euro Area

Author

Listed:
  • Karsten Staehr

  • Olegs Tkacevs
  • Katri Urke

Abstract

This paper estimates fiscal reaction functions to examine the importance of inflation and inflation surprises for fiscal outcomes in the euro area countries, covering the first 12 countries to join the euro area. The effect of HICP inflation on the primary fiscal balance in per cent of GDP is positive, and statistically and economically significant. The positive effect stems from both the revenue side, particularly direct taxes and indirect taxes, and the expenditure side, particularly primary current expenditures. The effects of HICP inflation on the primary balance and other fiscal outcomes appear in large part to stem from inflation surprises, which are errors in the inflation forecasts available for preparing budgets. The positive effect on the primary fiscal balance does not exhibit noticeable non-linearities.

Suggested Citation

  • Karsten Staehr & Olegs Tkacevs & Katri Urke, 2023. "Fiscal performance under inflation and inflation surprises: evidence from fiscal reaction functions for the Euro Area," Bank of Estonia Working Papers wp2023-3, Bank of Estonia, revised 20 Jun 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:eea:boewps:wp2023-3
    DOI: 10.23656/25045520/052022/0200
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bankofestonia.info/pub/en/dokumendid/publikatsioonid/seeriad/uuringud//https://haldus.eestipank.ee/sites/default/files/2023-05/wp3_2023.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.23656/25045520/052022/0200?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wolswijk, Guido, 2026. "A monetary policy perspective on the euro area fiscal reaction function," Working Paper Series 3172, European Central Bank.
    2. António Afonso & José Alves & Olegs Matvejevs & Olegs Tkacevs, 2023. "Fiscal Sustainability and the Role of Inflation," Working Papers REM 2023/0303, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    3. Olegs Tkacevs & Karsten Staehr, 2025. "The effects of macroeconomic and budget balance shocks on public debt trajectories in the Euro area," Bank of Estonia Working Papers wp2025-08, Bank of Estonia, revised 22 Dec 2025.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
    • H62 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Deficit; Surplus
    • H68 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Forecasts of Budgets, Deficits, and Debt
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation

    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:eea:boewps:wp2023-3. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Peeter Luikmel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/epgovee.html .

    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.