CEPR: Public Debts: Nuts, Bolts, and Worries

Authors: Barry J. Eichengreen, George & Helen Pardee Professor of Economics & Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, Robert Feldman, Jeff Liebman, Jürgen von Hagen, and Charles Wyplosz
September 1, 2011

The thirteenth Geneva Report on the World Economy addresses fiscal consolidation policy.

This 13th Geneva Report on the World Economy is devoted to fiscal policy reforms in the USA, Europe and Japan. It offers a common political-economy framework to diagnose the need for fiscal consolidation. It proposes institutional solutions rooted in that diagnosis.

Even before the global financial crisis, fiscal burdens had grown so heavy in most advanced countries that doubts emerged about fiscal sustainability. The global crisis of 2008–10 then severely aggravated fiscal problems. Ageing of populations will aggravate them more. Thus, credible plans for medium-term fiscal consolidation are an urgent priority.

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