ABSTRACT

Motivated by the fiscal imbalances in the EU countries in the recent period, this paper analyzes the effect of national fiscal rules on fiscal discipline. Using a careful definition of national fiscal rules combined with a novel measure of fiscal discipline (the Global Financial Performance Index – GFPI), propensity score matching estimations that account for potential endogeneity reveal that fiscal rules significantly improve the GFPI. However, this favourable effect dramatically depends upon the type of fiscal rule and different structural factors. These two features, together with alternative measures of fiscal discipline, are found to be key ingredients that should be taken into account when assessing the effects of fiscal rules on fiscal discipline.

摘要

由于最近一段时间欧盟国家财政失衡的原因，本文分析了国家财政规则对财政纪律的影响。通过仔细定义国家财政规则并结合新颖的财政纪律措施（全球金融绩效指数– GFPI），考虑潜在内生性的倾向得分匹配估计表明，财政规则显着改善了GFPI。但是，这种有利效果在很大程度上取决于财政规则的类型和不同的结构性因素。发现这两个特征以及替代的财政纪律措施是评估财政规则对财政纪律的影响时应考虑的关键因素。