In February 2000, the Austrian Federal Government set itself the target of achieving a balanced budget by 2002. A domestic stability pact was agreed that specified the budget performance to be achieved by the central, regional and local authorities. To this end, a comprehensive consolidation...

In a Working Agreement, the new coalition government proposes a set of measures designed to contain public spending, reduce deficits, and stabilize public debt over the medium term. This article sets out to quantify the measures envisaged and, using the WIFO econometric model, to assess their...