Vermehrte öffentliche Investitionen in Bildung, Infrastruktur und ökologische Erneuerung sind in Deutschland nicht nur dringend erforderlich, sondern können zudem den schwachen privaten Investitionen Antrieb verleihen. Zwar verringert sich der Überschuss der öffentlichen Haushalte durch die...

This paper aims to assess whether the implementation of the European Union (EU) framework of fiscal rules has been successful in promoting budgetary consolidation in EU Member States. The paper focuses on the period 1991-2002. Stylised facts show that Member States implemented major budgetary...

Fiscal rules are instrumental for restraining deficit and spending biases in euro area Member States that could threaten the smooth functioning of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Ideally, fiscal rules should combine characteristics such as sufficient flexibility to allow for appropriate...

This paper presents a survey of methods for assessing fiscal soundness, i.e. the capability of governments to honour their obligations in the short run and in the long run. The need for a comprehensive monitoring of fiscal soundness derives from the risks to economic stability that arise from...

This paper looks at fiscal sustainability and fiscal risks from a comprehensive, global perspective. It argues that the benefits of consolidation have to be re-assessed given that industrialised countries have entered uncharted waters with unsustainable public debt dynamics and enormous...

The sovereign debt crisis in the euro area is a symptom of policy failures and deficiencies in – among other things – fiscal policy coordination. The first nine years of the euro were not used effectively in order to improve public finances, while the Stability and Growth Pact was watered...

This paper explains the various concepts of government debt in the euro area with particular emphasis on its size and composition. In terms of size, the paper focuses on different definitions that are in use, in particular the concept of gross general government debt used in the surveillance of...