This paper analyses the evolution of fiscal and monetary variables in Ghana, from the discovery of oil in 2007 through to 2014. It documents the deterioration of fiscal and monetary discipline over this period, which resulted in a rebound of debt, a deterioration of the external balance, and a...

Unlike the narrative in Walrasian economic theory, the real world is not one of perfect foresight. This paper replaces this axiom with fundamental uncertainty, as established in original Keynesian theory. Drawing on contributions from Shackle, Okun, Alchian and Davidson, this paper explores how...

The merits of austerity in response to financial crises are widely contested and assumed to cause significant electoral backlash. Nonetheless, governments routinely adopt austerity when confronting economic downturns and swelling deficits. We explore this puzzle by distinguishing public...

The aim of this paper is to examine the electoral impact of the economic strategy pursued by the Coalition government in Britain since it came to power in the May 2010, and to study the role of the economy in influencing voting support for political parties over time. Immediately after the...

What are the effects of austerity on distributional policy? We exploit the autonomy of Italian municipalities in setting non-linear income taxes and the exogenous introduction of a fiscal rule to show that austerity increases income tax progressivity. Consistent with this evidence, we find that...