This paper analyzes developments in general government expenditures and revenues for 26 reforming ex-socialist economies (RESEs) over the period 1989-1994. The data indicate that, rather than uniformly converging to a “Western European” norm, RESEs have followed a variety of patterns,...

This paper discusses the theory and practice of counter-cyclical fiscal policy to draw conclusions relevant for the fiscal architecture of the European Union. It starts by reviewing major lines of criticism on counter-cyclical fiscal policy, such as the existence of various lags, versions of...