El papel de la política fiscal en los países de la UEM y las leyes de estabilidad presupuestaria. Comparación de distintas reglas

This paper deals with the role of fiscal policy in the Euro area economic policy framework. The centralisation of monetary policy, applied according to euro zone values, generates a loss of stabilisation capacity, since cyclic conditions can be different in each economy. A more active fiscal policy based on each country¿s situation could compensate for the loss of stabilisation in the capacity in monetary policy. This function, however, cannot be solely performed by automatic stabilisers, following a strict interpretation of the Stability and Growth Pact. European governments should therefore have more capacity for altering their budgetary balances according to their short-term economic situations. We have simulated the dynamics following a specific shock in one country belonging to the monetary union with different fiscal policy rules. The main result is that a More Activist Fiscal Policy Rule could improve the stabilisation capacity of national economies when compared with a strict application of the Stability and Growth Pact or with the Spanish Budget Stability Law (before the 2006 reform).