The paper compares fiscal cyclicality across regions and countries from 1960 to 2016. It finds that more than half of 170 countries analyzed in seven regions had, in more recent years, limited fiscal space, and that their fiscal policy was either cyclical or procyclical. This was particularly...

Die Staatsschuldenkrise im Euroraum hat die deutsche Wirtschaft bereits in Mitleidenschaft gezogen. Die Ausfuhren in die Länder des Euroraums sind rückläufig, die stark angestiegenen Ausfuhren in die Schwellenländer haben dies bisher aber mehr als ausgeglichen. Außerdem gehen die...

The Swiss debt brake is widely appreciated as one of the most rationally designed fiscal rules in the world and was thus also discussed as blueprint in the debates about fiscal rules in Germany, the European Union member states and Israel. However, evidence that this rule really contributes to...