Strengthening Post-Crisis Fiscal Credibility: Fiscal Councils on the Rise — A New Dataset

Xavier Debrun and Tidiane Kinda

No 2014/058, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Institutions aimed at constraining policy discretion to promote sound fiscal policies are once again at the forefront of the policy debate. Interest in “fiscal councils,” independent watchdogs active in the public debate, has grown rapidly in recent years. This paper presents the first cross-country dataset summarizing key characteristics of fiscal councils among IMF members. The data documents a surge in the number of fiscal councils since the crisis. It also illustrates that well-designed fiscal councils are associated with stronger fiscal performance and better macroeconomic and budgetary forecasts. Key features of effective fiscal councils include operational independence from politics, the provision or public assessment of budgetary forecasts, a strong presence in the public debate, and the monitoring of compliance with fiscal policy rules.

Keywords: WP; fiscal council; public goods; Credibility of fiscal policy; fiscal councils; fiscal rules; fiscal performance; forecast errors; council dataset; councils characteristic; IMF country paper; background country note; Budget planning and preparation; Fiscal stance; Africa; Europe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35
Date: 2014-04-08
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=41472 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Strengthening Post‐Crisis Fiscal Credibility: Fiscal Councils on the Rise – A New Dataset (2017)
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:imf:imfwpa:2014/058

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/pubs/ord_info.htm

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC USA. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Akshay Modi ().