Population aging will impose a significant burden on European pay-as-you-go pension systems. This study presents an estimate of this burden for the four largest euro-area countries and assesses alternative reform approaches. With prudent and realistic assumptions, the present value of future...

In the context of a stylised game theoretical framework of capital tax competition, we show that when repeated policy interactions are associated to a systematic punishment of the deviating policymaker, a co-ordinated outcome can be the solution to the non co-operative tax game. This result...

In the context of a stylised gaine theoretical framework of capital tax competition, we show that when repeated policy interactions are associated to a systematic punishment of the deviating policymaker, a coordinated outcome can be the solution to the non cooperative tax game. This resuit...

We reconsider the issues of fiscal policy interdependence in a monetary union, challenging the view that non co-ordination is always preferable. Moreover, we show that an expenditure bias occurs irrespective of the fiscal regime in place. We argue that a contractualist approach à la Walsh...

We provide an updated survey of the literature on time inconsistency, focusing on the key contributions that followed the seminal papers of Kydland and Prescott (1977) and Barro and Gordon (1983a). Starting from the traditional models addressing the time inconsistency problem of monetary policy,...

In this paper we analyse the impact of fiscal policy co-ordination in a monetary union on the size of the spending bias, inflation and the optimal degree of conservatism of the central bank. Our main result is that, when the fiscal authorities internalise the spillover effects originating from...

We focus on the political economy question of how incentives to reform are likely to be affected under the unique policy regime provided by the EMU. We develop the analysis using an extended ins & outs Barro-Gordon model of inflation and public expenditure within a framework where labour market...

We analyse the effects of fiscal policy co-ordination in a monetary union on inflation, public expenditure and the optimal degree of conservatism of the central bank. Our main result is that, when the fiscal authorities internalise the spillover effects originating from their loose fiscal...

We reconsider the merits of fiscal policy co-ordination in a monetary union distinguishing between and inflation targeting regime and delegation to a weight conservative central bank. We argue that a contractualist approach a la Walsh should be extended to the conduct of fiscal policy, setting...

Current best practice in central banking views a high level of monetary policy predictability as desirable. A clear distinction, however, has to be made between short-term and longer-term predictability. While short-term predictability can be narrowly defined as the ability of the public to...