Aggregate Fiscal Stabilisation Policy: Panacea or Scapegoat?

Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, and Aggregate Economic Activity in Korea

Fiscal Stabilisation in the EMU

This paper analyses the effects of macroeconomic shocks in a monetary union with the aid of a two-country model of the EMU. Our analysis serves two purposes. First, we show how asymmetries between countries might matter in terms of the resulting business cycle fluctuations. More specifically, we do not only allow for country-specific shocks but also for cross-national differences in wage behavi...

Optimal Fiscal Stabilisation through Government Spending

This paper examines under what conditions fiscal policy in the form of government spending should contribute to macroeconomic stabilisation. To this end optimal fiscal targeting rules minimising the microfounded social loss are examined in the following settings. Firstly, for the benchmark New Keynesian model, where monetary policy is unconstrained, a neutrality result for fiscal obtains: fisca...

Chocolate: Panacea or Poison??

Are you a chocoholic? If the answer is "Yes" then you are far from being alone. Aside from the weighty issue of rising poundage, there is also a more pertinent issue for sufferers of chronic pain. There appear to be 2 sides to this story and I really cannot say which is the more accurate: it may well be a case of "suck it and see"" The "for" argument goes some...

Commentary: Fiscal Policy and the Fiscal Position

As economics has developed, a number of different fiscal principles have been suggested. Perhaps the oldest principle was that the Government should balance its books. This principle was adopted by the 1979 Conservative Government but they delivered a budget in balance or in surplus only in 1988/89 and 1989/90. The same principle has been adopted in the Stability and Growth Pact, albeit with an...