In both academic research and policymaking, public sector debt and debt-to-GDP ratios are relied on for a multitude of important economic, political and socioeconomic decisions, especially as public sector balance sheets expand to an unprecedented size in the midst of the 2019–2020 COVID...

This paper summarizes unprecedented adverse health and economic impacts as well as policy responses in the Asia and Pacific region and the rest of the world generated by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. By the end of 2020, over 80 million people had been infected, with...

Die neue Bundesregierung wird zur Finanzierung neuer Ausgabenschwerpunkte nur bedingt auf eine Kreditfinanzierung ausweichen können, da nach aktuellem Stand ab 2023 wieder die Schuldenbremse greifen wird. Auch die Möglichkeit, die Mehrausgaben durch Steuererhöhungen zu decken, kann als...

The decline of “natural real interest rates” during the last three decades is a common phenomenon in all advanced economies and can be explained by a number of structural factors: the downward trend in potential growth; population ageing, which has led to higher savings rates in many...

This paper provides a response to the recently published critique of modern monetary theory (MMT) by Drumetz/Pfister, which is based on a superficial representation of the body of knowledge and follows a familiar script: MMT is about printing money to solve all problems and will cause...

We present an open economy growth model incorporating various elements of fiscal policy, including government expenditure on education and public capital (infrastructure), budget deficit, internal and external public debt, public consumption, and four tax rates. This detailed description of...

Automatic stabilisers are fiscal policy's first line of defence in the face of adverse economic shocks. Automatic stabilisers capture fiscal policy's automatic countercyclical response to the state of the business cycle, and are determined by factors like the progressivity of the tax system, the...

We investigate the relation between existing fiscal rules and investments in the context of a fiscal crisis in Brazil. We analyze existing fiscal rules at national and subnational levels, their enforcement, and proposed alternatives. Using narrative analysis, case studies, interviews, empirical...