IMF's Occasional Papers

1 total work

Rules-Based Fiscal Policy in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain

by Teresa Daban, Enrica Detragiache, Gabriel Bella, Gian-Maria Milesi-Ferretti, and Steven Symansky

Published 30 November 2003

In recent decades, most industrial countries have seen a sharp rise in the size of government and a large accumulation of public debt. An increasing number of countries have adopted formal fiscal rules to deal with high public debt levels, such as balanced-budget rules or multiyear frameworks that limit discretionary fiscal policy. This paper studies the design of fiscal rules and frameworks, focusing on the experiences in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.