IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bic/journl/v24y2024i1p116-144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Choosing the European fiscal rule

Author

Listed:
  • Ginters Bušs

    (Research Division, Monetary Policy Department, Latvijas Banka, Riga, Latvia)

  • Patrick Grüning

    (Research Division, Monetary Policy Department, Latvijas Banka, Riga, Latvia)

  • Oļegs Tkačevs

    (Research Division, Monetary Policy Department, Latvijas Banka, Riga, Latvia)

Abstract

In order to quantitatively assess the potential effects from the ongoing transformation of the fiscal framework of the European Union, we evaluate the economic and public finance stabilization properties of two benchmark fiscal rules using a New Keynesian small open economy model. If these fiscal rules are implemented one at a time, having just an expenditure growth rule tends to yield more stable macroeconomic outcomes but more volatile public finances, as compared to having only a structural balance rule. Much of the quantitative differences in relative volatilities can be accounted for by using a modified public expenditure definition in the expenditure growth rule, in particular the removal of debt service payments. The expenditure growth rule with a strong-enough debt anchor strikes the balance between the short-term macroeconomic stability and the medium-term public debt convergence. There is a welfare gain for households from having only an expenditure growth rule.

Suggested Citation

  • Ginters Bušs & Patrick Grüning & Oļegs Tkačevs, 2024. "Choosing the European fiscal rule," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 24(1), pages 116-144.
    • Handle: RePEc:bic:journl:v:24:y:2024:i:1:p:116-144
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/1406099X.2024.2340402
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fiscal policy; DSGE; small open economy; fiscal-monetary policy interaction;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E27 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • H63 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Debt; Debt Management; Sovereign Debt

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bic:journl:v:24:y:2024:i:1:p:116-144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Anna Zasova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/biceplv.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.