This book investigates the reasons for persistent public deficits and delayed fiscal reform in Japan, placing a special emphasis on political economy aspects. Japan is confronted with the need to pursue fiscal discipline for fiscal consolidation and implement structural reforms for reorganizing...

A review of the literature on environmental taxes, focusing on European experiences, and analysing how such taxes can contribute to green causes as well as reducing the tax burden from "ordinary" taxation. The authors examine the potential 'double dividend' from tax reform for helping the...

Policy toward fiscal rules is an important issue in the countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). According to a rough estimate, the countries with rules (all but North Macedonia) have complied with their debt and...

In 2009, the G20 embarked on an ambitious financial regulatory reform agenda to address the fault lines that caused the global financial crisis. Although the global benefits are expected to outweigh the overall costs, these reforms could produce cross-border adverse spillover effects to...

China’s unprecedented growth has transformed the lives of its people and impacted economies across the globe. The financial system supported this growth by providing cheap loans to boost investment and, in a virtuous cycle, rapid growth insured that these loans could be repaid. However, in...