TY  - JOUR
AU  - Alesina,Alberto
AU  - Perotti,Roberto
TI  - Fiscal Expansions and Fiscal Adjustments in OECD Countries
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5214
PY  - 1995
Y2  - August 1995
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5214
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5214.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Alberto F. Alesina
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center 210
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-8388
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: aalesina@harvard.edu

Roberto Perotti
IGIER Universita' Bocconi
Via Roentgen 1
20136 Milano
ITALY
Tel: 39 02 58363073
Fax: 39 02 58363302
E-Mail: roberto.perotti@unibocconi.it
AB  - This paper considers budget expansions and adjustments in OECD countries in the last three decades.  Our main results are: i) on average fiscal expansions are the results of increases in expenditures, particularly of transfer programs, while contractions are typically due to tax increases; ii) however successful (i.e. long lasting), a minority of the total rely primarily on reduction of government wages and employment and cuts in transfer programs; iii) even major successful fiscal adjustments do not seem to have recessionary consequences, on average; iv) different types of governments show different degrees of success at implementing successful fiscal adjustment, with coalition governments showing the worst performance.
ER  -