In a bold legislative move, in 2009 Germany introduced a fundamental reform of the government borrowing rules which are specified in its constitution. In particular, state governments will be required to provide a balanced budget, abstracting from cyclical fluctuations, starting in the year...

In recent years, a lot of rules concerning government expenditures as well as tax revenues were changed in Germany. Government expenditures in relation to GDP were reduced, income tax rates were lowered and the budget deficit declined. The structure of government expenditures changed in favor of...