Dear Colleague, We cordially invite you to the next wiiw seminar 'Policy Perspectives for European Integration' on Monday, 20 April 2015, 5 pm wiiw, Vienna 6, Rahlgasse 3, lecture hall (entrance from the ground floor) The European fiscal framework: can it ensure debt sustainability and adequate fiscal stabilisation? Zsolt Darvas senior fellow, Bruegel Abstract The two main objectives of a fiscal framework are to discourage the deficit bias of the government in order to ensure long-term sustainability of public debt and to leave scope for countercyclical fiscal policy. By estimating fiscal reaction functions for a large number of advanced and emerging economies, Zsolt Darvas (together with his research colleagues Gregory Claeys and Silvia Merler) conclude that while automatic stabilisers were allowed to work in euro-area countries, the slightly counter-cyclical pre-crisis discretionary fiscal policy has disappeared during the crisis. Some euro-area countries implemented pro-cyclical fiscal tightening. By reviewing the characteristics of alternative fiscal frameworks and their effectiveness from theoretical and empirical perspectives, Zsolt Darvas et. al. assess the relevance of the current European fiscal framework to achieve the two main objectives. They make recommendations on how the European framework (including its specific provisions for the euro area) should evolve in the coming years. (Papers and Powerpoint presentations, as far as available, are posted on our homepage http://wiiw.ac.at/events.html after the respective seminars.) Best regards Univ.Prof.Dr. Michael Landesmann                                         Dr. Sándor Richter Scientific Director wiiw                                                                         Organizer -- Michaela Bönisch Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche (wiiw) The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies Rahlgasse 3, A-1060 Wien T: +43 1 533 66 10 - 40 F: +43 1 533 66 10 - 50 boenisch@wiiw.ac.at http://www.wiiw.ac.at/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you do not want to receive further mailings please send an e-mail to boenisch@wiiw.ac.at Falls Sie keine weiteren Zusendungen des wiiw wünschen senden Sie bitte ein E-Mail an boenisch@wiiw.ac.at