IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/psl/bnlaqr/199744.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The EMU debt criterion: an interpretation

Author

Listed:
  • R. BERNDSEN

    (De Nederlandsche Bank)

Abstract

The convergence criteria specified in the Maastricht Treaty on government deficit and debt, inflation, the exchange rate and the long-term interest rate will play an important, if not decisive, role in determining which countries move on to the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). The aim of this work is to provide a possible interpretation of the EMU debt criterion. The author investigates the government debt criterion which, as Article 104c(2b) of the Treaty shows, has a considerable scope for interpretation. Although this subject has been discussed extensively, relatively little work has been done to develop a clear interpretation of the EMU debt criterion. A flexible approach is adopted in which parts of the relevant Treaty text are characterised using two parameters.

Suggested Citation

  • R. Berndsen, 1997. "The EMU debt criterion: an interpretation," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 50(203), pages 505-533.
    • Handle: RePEc:psl:bnlaqr:1997:44
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ojs.uniroma1.it/index.php/PSLQuarterlyReview/article/view/10586/10470
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Buiter, W.H. & Corsetti, G. & Roubini, N., 1992. "Excessive Deficits: Sense and Nonsence in the Treaty of Maastricht," Papers 674, Yale - Economic Growth Center.
    2. Masson, Paul R, 1996. "Fiscal Dimensions of EMU," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 996-1004, July.
    3. Robert Holzmann & Yves Hervé & Roland Demmel, 1996. "The maastricht fiscal criteria: Required but ineffective?," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 25-58, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. L.L. Pasinetti, 1998. "European Union at the end of 1997: who is within the public finance “sustainability†zone?," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 51(204), pages 17-36.
    2. L.L. Pasinetti, 1998. "European Union at the end of 1997: who is within the public finance “sustainability†zone?," Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 51(204), pages 17-36.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Easterly, William, 1999. "When is fiscal adjustment an illusion?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2109, The World Bank.
    2. Ali Bayar, 1999. "Entry and Exit Dynamics of 'Excessive Deficits' in the European Union," CESifo Working Paper Series 216, CESifo.
    3. Kollintzas, Tryphon & Philippopoulos, Apostolis & Vassilatos, Vanghelis, 1999. "Normative Aspects of Fiscal Policy in an Economic Union: a Review," CEPR Discussion Papers 2212, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Benczes, István, 1999. "Fiskális politika a Gazdasági és Monetáris Unióban [Fiscal policy in the European Economic and Monetary Union]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(4), pages 362-379.
    5. Barry Eichengreen & Jürgen Hagen, 1996. "Fiscal restrictions and monetary union: Rationales, repercussions, reforms," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 3-23, February.
    6. Arne Heise, 2002. "Optimal Public Debts, Sustainable Deficits, and Budgetary Consolidation," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 29(4), pages 319-337, December.
    7. Heipertz, Martin, 2003. "The Stability and Growth Pact - Not the best but better than nothing. Reviewing the debate on fiscal policy in Europe's Monetary Union," MPIfG Working Paper 03/10, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    8. Jorg Bibow, 2004. "Fiscal Consolidation: Contrasting Strategies & Lessons From International Experiences," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_400, Levy Economics Institute.
    9. Heinemann, Friedrich, 1994. "Central Europe and European monetary integration: a strategy for catching up," ZEW Discussion Papers 94-21, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. repec:kap:iaecre:v:11:y:2005:i:1:p:29-38 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Peters, Theo, 1997. "Stability in EMU," MPRA Paper 91713, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Robert Holzmann & Yves Hervé & Roland Demmel, 1996. "The maastricht fiscal criteria: Required but ineffective?," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 25-58, February.
    13. repec:zbw:bofrdp:1997_008 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. M.J. Artis, 2003. "Reflections on the optimal currency area (OCA) criteria in the light of EMU," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(4), pages 297-307.
    15. Lars Jonung & Eoin Drea, 2010. "It Can't Happen, It's a Bad Idea, It Won't Last: U.S. Economists on the EMU and the Euro, 1989–2002," Econ Journal Watch, Econ Journal Watch, vol. 7(1), pages 1-4–52, January.
    16. Dermot Hodson, 2013. "The Eurozone in 2012: ‘Whatever It Takes to Preserve the Euro'?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51, pages 183-200, September.
    17. Óscar Afonso & Rui Henrique Alves, 2006. "“To Deficit or Not to Deficit”: Should European Fiscal Rules Differ Among Countries?," FEP Working Papers 219, Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Economia do Porto.
    18. Thierry Warin, 2004. "Should Europe Get Rid of the Stability and Growth Pact?," Middlebury College Working Paper Series 0415, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.
    19. Jérôme Creel, 1999. "The stability pact and feedback policy effects," Working Papers hal-01064862, HAL.
    20. Jerome Creel, 2003. "Ranking Fiscal Policy Rules: the Golden Rule of Public Finance vs. the Stability and Growth Pact," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2003-04, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    21. Marco Buti & João Nogueira Martins & Alessandro Turrini, 2007. "From Deficits to Debt and Back: Political Incentives under Numerical Fiscal Rules," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 53(1), pages 115-152, March.
    22. Alberto Bagnai, 2013. "Unhappy families are all alike: Minskyan cycles, Kaldorian growth, and the Eurozone peripheral crises," a/ Working Papers Series 1301, Italian Association for the Study of Economic Asymmetries, Rome (Italy).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic and Monetary Union; Government debt criterion; Maastricht Treaty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F02 - International Economics - - General - - - International Economic Order and Integration
    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
    • F36 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Financial Aspects of Economic Integration

    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:psl:bnlaqr:1997:44. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Carlo D'Ippoliti (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.economiacivile.it .

    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.