This article analyses the role of fiscal policy during banking crises in supporting short-term GDP growth and the growth potential. Using a database covering 56 advanced and emerging economies for the period 19702008, it finds that fiscal policy appears to matter for the impact of banking crises...

This paper analyses the main features and determinants of labour market reforms in the EU over the period of 2000 - 2011 using the European Commission LABREF database. The data suggests that the timing, focus, and geographical distribution of reforms reflect the interplay between economic shocks...

Under numerical fiscal rules, such as those underpinning EMU, governments have strong temptations to use accounting tricks to meet the fiscal constraints. Given these political incentives, fiscal variables that in the past were regarded as a mere residual acquire a strategic role. This is the...