Fiscal Politics In Time: Pathways to Fiscal Consolidation, 1980-2012

Sebastian Dellepiane and Niamh Hardiman
Additional contact information
Sebastian Dellepiane: School of Government and Public Policy, University of Strathclyde, Ireland

Working Papers from Geary Institute, University College Dublin

Abstract: The comparative study of debt and fiscal consolidation has acquired a new focus in the wake of the global financial crisis. This leads us to re-evaluate the literature on fiscal consolidation that flourished during the 1980s and 1990s. The conventional approach segments episodes of fiscal change into discrete observations. We argue that this misses the dynamic features of government strategy, especially in the choices made between expenditure-based and revenue-based fiscal consolidation strategies. We propose a focus on pathways rather than episodes of adjustment, to recapture what Pierson terms ‘politics in time’. A case-study approach facilitates analysis of complex causality that includes the structures of interest intermediation, the role of ideas in shaping the set of feasible policy choices, and the situation of national economies in the international political economy. We support our argument with qualitative data based on two case studies, Ireland and Greece, and with additional paired comparisons of Ireland with Britain, and Greece with Spain.

Keywords: fiscal; consolidation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2012-12-21
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.ucd.ie/geary/static/publications/workingpapers/gearywp201228.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201228

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Geary Institute, University College Dublin Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Geary Tech ().