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A multi-speed fiscal Europe? Fiscal Rules and Fiscal Performance in the EU Former Communist Countries

Author

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  • Cezara Vinturis

    (UVT - Universitatea de Vest din Timișoara [România] = West University of Timișoara [Romania] = Université Ouest de Timișoara [Roumanie], CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - UCA [2017-2020] - Université Clermont Auvergne [2017-2020] - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This paper shows that, contrary to their favourable effect in the EU non-FCC (Former Communist Countries), fiscal rules do not significantly affect fiscal performance in the group of EU FCC. This finding, which may echo differences between FCC and other EU inherited from the Cold War period, is robust when considering various estimation methods, dividing fiscal rules along various dimensions, and using several observed and computed measures of fiscal performance. However, when going beyond the simple presence of fiscal rules, we find that an improvement of the strength of fiscal rules significantly affects fiscal performance in EU FCC, with a magnitude higher than that in EU non-FCC. Our findings are particularly important from the perspective of the future Euro zone and European Union enlargements, which involve former communist countries, and go along with the adoption of various types of fiscal rules.

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  • Cezara Vinturis, 2019. "A multi-speed fiscal Europe? Fiscal Rules and Fiscal Performance in the EU Former Communist Countries," Working Papers hal-03097483, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03097483
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://uca.hal.science/hal-03097483
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    Keywords

    fiscal rules; fiscal performance; EU former communist countries;
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