The focus of this volume is on the European context of public budget policy and a variety of different approaches are used - theoretical modelling, econometrics and applied general equilibrium modelling. Empirical evidence and case studies of European countries are contained in all the papers....

This paper contributes to the empirical literature on convergence by applying convergence model to components of government expenditures (by function) in EU15 during 1995-2010, using the data from United Nations Statistics Division. Moreover, we extend the traditional convergence model to allow...

Improving the quality of public finances (QPF) has become a new focus for European policy makers. This focus is largely a response to preparing the European economies for the dual challenge of ageing populations and increased exposure to global competition. Better QPF can help tackle both...

This study examines synergies between the objectives of the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) and EU and national budgets. It also assesses the impact of the guidance provided by the AGS and country-specific recommendations on national budgets with a view to supporting policies enhancing economic growth.

We use a new approach to assess long-term fiscal developments. By analyzing the time varying behaviour of the two components of government spending and revenue - responsiveness and persistence - we are able to infer about the sources of fiscal behaviour. Drawing on quarterly data we estimate...