Whether discretionary fiscal policies in industrialized countries act counter- or pro-cyclically and whether their reaction is symmetric or asymmetric over the cycle are still largely unsettled questions. This uncertainty remains even when attention is restricted to euro-area countries, where...

This paper reviews the existing empirical evidence on the short-term impact on prices of fiscal variables and assesses it against new results from harmonised simulations, conducted with six well-established econometric models used by the ECB and five national central banks (NCBs) of the...

The paper examines the development of Italy�s public finances after the consolidation period 1992-97, which secured participation in the European Monetary Union from the outset. The �structural� developments in the main budgetary components are assessed, excluding the effects of...

This study investigates the impact of World Bank development policy loans on the ease of doing business. It finds that the cumulative number of development policy loans enhances business climate, especially for less developed countries and when combined with an International Monetary Fund...

An extensive literature analysed the impact of upper tier transfers on spending behaviour of lower level governments finding evidence of a flypaper effect, an overreaction to varying grants from upper tiers. Our work seeks to supplement a dearth of evidence for the Italian case by focusing on...

The focus is on nominal transmission mechanisms in Italy with special reference to monetary effects and how they have changed with the increased economic integration in Europe and the increased independence of Italian Central Bank. The empirical model investigates the dynamic determination of...