Suchergebnisse

Strengthening budgetary surveillance and coordination of budgetary policy measures in the EU is of vital importance for economic stability and growth. The decentralised decision making structure in most areas of budgetary policies, requires the need to balance national and common objectives; clearly also given the context of highly integrated goods-, labour-, and financial markets that lead to significant interdependencies and spillovers, as e.g. the recent financial crisis and economic slowdown demonstrate. We analyse the progress that is underway in the current budgetary governance framework in the EU -including the recent new instruments in the form of the Macroeconomic Imbalance procedure, the European Semester, Stability Bonds, the European Financial Stability Facility, Euro+ Pact and Europe 2020. This paper surveys supranational governance in the EU, and the coordination of national policies, including concepts of fiscal federalism, multi-level governance and open coordination methods, control and systems methods and macro-finance. We relate this exercise to the current context of budgetary stress in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and economic slowdown which has strongly impacted on the economies and public finances of the Member States. We consider financial market conditions that have exerted a particular strong influence in the European debt crisis and evaluate specifically the merits and risks relating to proposals for the introduction of Eurobonds. We conclude by formulating the policy recommendations on streamlining EU economic and budgetary governance that could be drawn from our analysis.

Während der vergangenen Jahre haben institutionelle Reformen in der makroökonomischen Debatte in der Europäischen Union eine wichtige Rolle gespielt. Zunehmend hat sich ein Konsens herausgebildet, dass in vielen EU-Ländern Wettbewerbshemmnisse, unzureichende Arbeitsmarktflexibilität, Innovationsbremsen sowie Überregulierung und Bürokratie negative Effekte auf wirtschaftliche Aktivität, Beschäftigung und Produktivität haben und sie daher abgebaut werden sollten. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert potenzielle Felder, wirtschaftspolitische Ansatzpunkte sowie mögliche Auswirkungen von institutionellen Reformen.

AbstractThis paper develops a stylized budgeting framework to analyze the effects of macroeconomic shocks and government bond market conditions on public finances. We focus on the impacts of primary fiscal balance shocks, growth, and interest rate shocks on budgetary sustainability. We consider the effects of financial sector bailouts, uncertainty about aging costs and instability viz. speculation in government bond markets. The framework is applied to the case of Belgium, where recently these issues have played an important role. A scenario analysis of budgetary adjustment under alternative hypotheses is carried out to analyze Belgian fiscal sustainability over the next 20 years.

This paper analyses Greek fiscal sustainability from a retrospective and a prospective view. Implications of Greek fiscal (un)sustainability are discussed. In the empirical analysis econometric testing of Greek government solvency during the period 1985-2008 is combined with a scenario analysis of budgetary adjustments during the period 2011-2030 under alternative hypotheses.

The transition phase to EMU has been accompanied by considerable monetary & fiscal consolidation efforts in the EU. This paper analyzes this consolidation process & its effects on economic activity in the EU. It is tested to what extent fiscal retrenchment efforts have depressed or stimulated private spending. In the case of the latter, non-Keynesian effects dominate the traditional Keynesian expenditure effects of government spending, taxation, & transfer payments. 3 Tables, 2 Figures, 1 Appendix, 33 References. Adapted from the source document.

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