TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bénétrix,Agustín S.
AU  - Lane,Philip R.
TI  - International Differences in Fiscal Policy During the Global Crisis
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 16346
PY  - 2010
Y2  - September 2010
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16346
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w16346.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Agustín S. Bénétrix
Department of Economics and IIIS
Trinity College
Dublin
E-Mail: benetria@tcd.ie

Philip Lane
The Sutherland Centre
Arts Block
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin 2  IRELAND
E-Mail: plane@tcd.ie
M3  - presented at "TAPES Conference", June 14-16, 2010
AB  - We examine the cross-country dispersion in fiscal outcomes during 2007-2009. In principle, international differences in fiscal policy may be related to differences in optimal fiscal positions, funding constraints, political economy factors and fiscal control problems. We find that the decline in the overall and structural fiscal balances have been larger for those countries experiencing larger increases in unemployment and where credit growth during the pre-crisis period was more rapid. However, there is no systematic co-variation between fiscal outcomes and a larger number of other macroeconomic variables and country characteristics.
ER  -