This paper challenges the focus on budget deficits that permeates the literature on fiscal policy. It analyzes countries running budget surpluses and asks why some of them preserved these surpluses while others did not. Whereas several OECD members recorded surpluses for just a few years,...

This paper measures the net redistributive impact of the EU budget. It finds that for every € 1,000 difference in income per capita across countries, € 9 is offset by lower contributions to the budget and € 3 is offset by higher expenditures by the budget. The overall equalising effect is...

Aid and state building -- Why are state revenue sources relevant? -- Tax states -- Aid-dependent states -- The effects of oil revenue -- Distinction between aid and oil-revenue rentier effects -- Conclusion -- Reliance on external revenue : Afghanistan from 1747 to 2000 -- The society : an...

Cover -- Contents -- Abstract -- I.Introduction -- II. Defining the Government -- III. Defining the Debt and Deficit -- A. Cash and Accrual -- B. Debt-Deficit Residuals and the Importance of Reconciling Stocks and Flows -- C. Debt-Deficit Residuals and the Valuation of Assets and Liabilities --...