Using quarterly data for the period Q1:2000–Q4:2024, the study examines whether elections in EU‑27 member states shape the composition and timing of fiscal policy strategies, and how political, fiscal and institutional constraints condition these dynamics. Employing a two‑way...

The Scottish Budget and Spending Review published on 13 January set detailed spending plans for 2026-27, alongside higher-level plans for the following two years for day-to-day (resource) spending and the following three years for investment (capital) spending. Understandably, the Scottish...

The funding available to a government determines the choices available to it - including what public services and benefits to provide, whether to charge co-payments for services, and if so at what level. Such choices especially affect households on low and middle incomes, and particularly those...

The central contention of this report is that the UK fiscal framework has some desirable features but is not delivering good outcomes. We are in a bad equilibrium. The UK's fiscal framework is based around a set of pass-fail, numerical fiscal rules. The fiscal debate is overly fixated on the...

New Zealand's population is ageing. Public spending on public pensions (NZ Superannuation) and health are particularly sensitive to this trend and are expected to increase accordingly. Current and future government policies aimed at addressing this challenge will not only influence macroeconomic...

Fiscal sustainability refers to a government's capacity to generate sufficient revenue to cover its expenses and repay its debts without accumulating excessive liabilities or creating new money. Recent observations indicate that Kenya's economic growth has slowed, prompting concerns about its...

Too many children in Papua New Guinea (PNG) are missing out on education, limiting the country’s ability to develop its human capital and achieve sustained economic growth. Nearly one in four children of primary or secondary school age is not attending school. Among those who are enrolled,...

This Note describes methods for estimating potential fiscal savings across five spending categories—the wage bill, pension payments, capital spending, purchases of goods and services, and social protection spending. The primary methodology compares a country’s spending levels to specific...

This study examines public debt sustainability in the Eurozone by estimating fiscal reaction functions that assess how fiscal balances respond to rising public debt under heterogeneous macroeconomic conditions. Using annual panel data for 20 EU countries from 2000 to 2024, we employ fixed...

This study examines the impact of key governance dimensions on public budget rationalization in Palestine from 2002 to 2023. Utilizing Legitimacy Theory, the research assesses how institutional quality affects fiscal outcomes, including revenues, expenditures, net lending, and budget balance....

Os gastos com transporte constituem uma parte expressiva dos orçamentos públicos municipais no Brasil. Tradicionalmente concentrados em investimentos de capital voltados à infraestrutura viária, os recursos têm sido progressivamente redirecionados para o custeio da operação dos sistemas...

Against the backdrop of ongoing debates on EU financing - such as how to strengthen the link between EU revenues and policies, reduce national contributions, make the EU budget more flexible, and expand the revenue base with sources that support the EU's financial autonomy and policies - other...

Europe is a hub of innovation, science, and industry but it faces tough global competition. To stay competitive and lead in technology, the EU needs stronger, more focused public investment to support businesses and attract private funding throughout the entire investment journey.

We examine the impact of extreme hydrogeological events on local governments' fiscal responses in Italy between 2016 and 2022, with a focus on how local public finances contribute to disaster resilience. Leveraging the staggered timing of disaster declarations and employing a...

Our annual report presents our opinion on whether the EU's annual accounts are reliable and whether the underlying revenue and expenditure transactions comply with the applicable rules and regulations. It also presents our analysis of the budgetary and financial management and performance...

This paper investigates whether political partisanship and political narratives affect voters' opinions about public finances. In a novel survey experiment, we test the causal effect of pro-consolidation and pro-public investment narratives used in German general election campaigns on...

Wofür gibt der Bund die zur Verfügung stehenden Einnahmen aus? Die Antwort hängt nicht nur von den politischen Präferenzen der Volksvertreter ab, sondern auch von den gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, wie sich die Ausgaben des...

Purpose This study explores the effect of local budget retention rate changes (RER) on total factor productivity (TFP) and its components in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a two-system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator and data from 2012 to 2019 across all 63...

Solomon Islands faces the immediate fiscal challenges of rebuilding cash reserves, improving the quality of public spending, and imposing fiscal discipline on domestic borrowing. To address these challenges while financing necessary investments, it is an urgent priority to improve the...

Solomon Islands faces challenges in fiscal data governance despite reforms. While the Public Financial Management Act (PFMA) of 2013 aimed to enhance transparency, inconsistent implementation and resource constraints persist. This paper highlights key issues and recommendations, including...

The global economy has proven resilient in the post-pandemic period, with global disinflation continuing, but with significant remaining uncertainty. This backdrop and transformations in the economic landscape are driving strong demand for Fund engagement. The proposed budget is guided by the...

This workshop was organised for the Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) on 25 June 2025. It focused on the implementation of the gender mainstreaming methodology in the EU budget, with an emphasis on budgetary control.

Horizon Europe (2028-2034) will build on the achievements of its predecessors, scaling what works, simplifying what is possible, and focusing investment where Europe needs it most. It will be tightly connected to the European Competitiveness Fund.

The Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget - 2024 financial year, together with its annexes, is the European Commission's main contribution to the annual discharge procedure by which the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union monitor the implementation of...

The Annual Management and Performance Report for the EU Budget - 2024 financial year, together with its annexes, is the European Commission's main contribution to the annual discharge procedure by which the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union monitor the implementation of...

This paper investigates fiscal sustainability and the prevailing fiscal regime in the Federal Republic of Germany. Using annual data from 1950 to 2023, the long-term relationship between the primary balance and government debt is estimated using a single-equation error correction model (SECM)....