Over the past four decades, many economies have striven to find permanent solutions to persistent increases in public deficits and deterioration of growth. For most economies, the solution to this problem was the adoption of fiscal rules. This paper presents empirical evidence on the effects of fiscal rules on fiscal performance and economic growth using a dataset of 43 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa over 27 years. The study applies simultaneous equation models to determine the relationship between performance and growth in the public sector and also to avoid structural equation and endogeneity biases. The results show that fiscal rules significantly foster fiscal performance and decelerate growth. The study further finds the expenditure rules to be most effective in influencing fiscal balance and economic growth. The robust estimates further confirm that expenditure rules and government spending efficiency are necessary for promoting fiscal outcomes and economic growth. The study recommends the implementation of more revenue rules, debt rules and balance budget rules to ameliorate the negative effects of government spending on economic growth. In addition, Sub-Saharan African economies should carefully consider the rules applied to government spending since fiscal rules on productive spending will impede economic growth.

中文翻译：

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撒哈拉以南非洲的财政规则、财政绩效和经济增长

在过去的四十年里，许多经济体一直在努力寻找永久解决公共赤字持续增加和增长恶化的办法。对于大多数经济体来说，解决这个问题的方法是采用财政规则。本文使用 27 年来撒哈拉以南非洲 43 个国家的数据集，提供了关于财政规则对财政绩效和经济增长影响的经验证据。该研究应用联立方程模型来确定公共部门绩效与增长之间的关系，并避免结构方程和内生性偏差。结果表明，财政规则显着促进了财政绩效并减缓了增长。该研究进一步发现，支出规则在影响财政平衡和经济增长方面最为有效。稳健的估计进一步证实，支出规则和政府支出效率对于促进财政成果和经济增长是必要的。该研究建议实施更多的收入规则、债务规则和平衡预算规则，以减轻政府支出对经济增长的负面影响。此外，撒哈拉以南非洲经济体应仔细考虑适用于政府支出的规则，因为有关生产性支出的财政规则将阻碍经济增长。