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Did the Maastricht treaty matter for macroeconomic performance?

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  • Baskaran, Thushyanthan

Abstract

We explore the impact of the Maastricht treaty on fiscal and macroeconomic outcomes in the EU with the difference-in-difference methodology. Our dataset covers 23 OECD countries over the 1975-2006 period. EU 15 countries are classified as the treatment and eight non-EU OECD countries as the control group. The results indicate that the provisions in the Maastricht treaty have been either irrelevant or even harmful for fiscal and macroeconomic developments in the EU. Evidence for a detrimental impact of the Maastricht criteria is particularly strong for the period after the start of the third stage of EMU

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  • Baskaran, Thushyanthan, 2009. "Did the Maastricht treaty matter for macroeconomic performance?," MPRA Paper 30106, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:30106
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    3. António Afonso & Raquel Balhote, 2014. "Interactions between Monetary Policy and Fiscal Policy," Working Papers Department of Economics 2014/13, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
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    5. Mercedes Castro-Nuno & Jose I. Castillo-Manzano & Xavier Fageda, 2013. "The 'Europeanization' Of The Common Road Safety Policy: An Econometric Analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa13p50, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Casimir Dadak, 2011. "Political Economy of the Euro Area Crisis," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 58(5), pages 593-604, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Balanced budget rules; Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); Maastricht treaty;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H62 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Deficit; Surplus

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