Working Paper (2012-06) - A comparison of European fiscal adjustment strategies
If fiscal adjustment programs aim at targeting a sustainable trend for public finance, their impacts depend on their components, their respective shares and the momentum of their implementation.
This working paper publishes a survey of the fiscal adjustment policies conducted in the Eurozone countries, until march 2012; it gives a typology (tax increases/spending cuts/structural reforms), highlighting thus which expenditures will be reduced and in what proportion, and which budget resources can be increased; this financial overview enables to design a strategy. To quantify measures, already taken or scheduled, indicates if these programs are sustainable, compared with the previous ones and regarding the current macroeconomic situation. Finally, it estimates if the measures implemented did succeed in returning to a balanced budget.
- Keywords: fiscal policy; budgetary adjustment.
- Author: Abakar Ibrahim