The aim of this report, the IFS's first in-depth analysis of the Scottish Government Budget, is to look at some of the key implications for the coming year, and for the longer term. We do not attempt to cover all of the different services that the Scottish Government is responsible for, or all...

The Scottish Government's overall budget depends both on funding from the UK government, which is determined largely via the Barnett formula, and on its own devolved revenues, borrowing and reserves, which are governed by the Fiscal Framework. This chapter of the report looks at the funding...

How do modern fiscal states arise? Perhaps the most dominant explanation, based on the European experience, is that democratic institutions that limited the extractive power of states-exemplified by the 1688 Glorious Revolution in England-paved the way for the rise of fiscal capacity and...

This report provides a selected analysis of Vanuatu's economy and public finances, emphasizing the lens of disaster resilience. It draws upon the analysis and tools from two core World Bank diagnostic products, the Country Economic Memorandum (CEM) and Public Expenditure Review (PER) while...

The Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) came into effect in 2013 to reduce rising public debt and achieve fiscal stability. Maldives has experienced rapid public debt accumulation over the past decade. The FRA establishes objectives for maintaining debt at a sustainable level and reducing the...

How do policy communications on future f iscal targets af fect market expectations and beliefs about the future conduct of f iscal policy? In this paper, we develop indicators of f iscal credibility that quantify the degree to which policy announcements anchor expectations, based on the...

Adoption of fiscal rules and fiscal councils continued to increase globally over the last decades based on two new global datasets. During the pandemic, fiscal frameworks were put to test. The widespread use of escape clauses was one of the novelties in this crisis, which helped provide policy...

This paper aims to raise the awareness and knowledge about state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Germany - a sizable but often ignored part of the overall public sector which the authors of this ZEW expert brief, therefore, label the "other government" - to facilitate an informed debate about the...