Even before the COVID-19 crisis, rapidly growing healthcare expenditure was calling the sustainabi- lity of public finances into question. The pandemic has reinforced these concerns and also under- lined the importance of resilient healthcare systems. To highlight the need for economic policy...

This paper contributes to the debate about the impact of population ageing on health care expenditure. Some health economists claim that the commonly presumed impact of population ageing is a "red herring". Based on empirical studies these authors conclude that proximity to death and not age per...

This paper contributes to the debate about the impact of population ageing on health care expenditure. Some health economists claim that the commonly presumed impact of population ageing is a "red herring". Based on empirical studies these authors conclude that proximity to death and not age per...

This paper contributes to the debate about the impact of population ageing on health care expenditure. Some health economists claim that the commonly presumed impact of population ageing is a "red herring". Based on empirical studies these authors conclude that proximity to death and not age per...

These projections show that demographic change will have a significant impact on the dynamism of healthcare expenditure. The effect of an ageing population is most significant in the area of long-term care. For healthcare excluding long-term care, non-demographic cost drivers – such as the...

According to mainstream macroeconomic theory, i.e. the New Neoclassical Synthesis (NNS), business cycle fluctuations and monetary impulses do not affect production and employment in the long term. Persistence of demand-side shock are only acknowledged in special cases such as hysteresis on the...

This paper contributes to the debate on the macroeconomic effects of fiscal consolidation. The analysis focuses on the western European countries of the EMU. In deviation to the relevant literature external imbalances are explicitly taken into account and the longer-term impact on productivity...

Due to the ongoing crisis, several reforms have been implemented at the EU-level, which are tilted towards strengthening the budget discipline of EMU member states. These reforms underlie the view that government profligacy is the main culprit of the crisis. Consequently, a fiscal compact that...

A key concern of this study is to evaluate the increase in healthcare expenditure as a result of an ageing Swiss population and to highlight the resulting financial burden for the public finances and mandatory basic healthcare insurance. In addition, the study also shows the adjustment levers...

In contrast to most empirical growth studies, this study applies a robust estimator, which accounts for outliers, non-Gaussian distributions and a lack of quality in datasets like those for growth empirics. According to the empirical analysis, the relationship between government activities and...