Discussion paper for the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency. To a limited degree, international institutions and networks can help to overcome the domestic obstacles that discourage the endogenous development of policies on fiscal openness. They exercise their influence through...

Fiscal rules were supposed to provide a simple remedy for out-of-control government spending. They were predicated on a deep skepticism about the capacity of democratic systems to exercise fiscal self-control. After three decades of experimentation, it is evident that advocates of fiscal rules...