Europe > Norway

You are looking at 1 - 6 of 6 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government x
Clear All Modify Search
Mr. Miguel A Alves
,
Mrs. Sage De Clerck
, and
Juliana Gamboa-Arbelaez
This paper provides an overview of the Public Sector Balance Sheet (PSBS) Database, a dataset developed in the context of the October 2018 Fiscal Monitor. The dataset provides a comprehensive picture of public wealth for 38 countries, and a narrower picture for further 37 countries and territories. Comprehensive PSBSs bring together all the accumulated assets and liabilities that governments control, including public corporations, natural resources, and pension liabilities. They therefore account for the entirety of what the state owns and owes, offering a broader fiscal picture beyond debt and deficits. This is particularly relevant in the current context of record and still rising debts and heightened risks to the balance sheet of the public sector. PSBSs bring about greater transparency and allow closer scrutiny of government’s financial position. They also allow better balance sheet management, thereby potentially increasing return on assets, reducing risks and the costs of borrowing, and improving fiscal policymaking. The paper also elaborates on the conceptual framework and methodology used in compiling the data, and provides some practical guidelines on the compilation, validation, and dissemination of such data.
Luc Eyraud
,
Mr. Xavier Debrun
,
Andrew Hodge
,
Victor Duarte Lledo
, and
Ms. Catherine A Pattillo
Fiscal rule frameworks have evolved significantly in response to the global financial crisis. Many countries have reformed their fiscal rules or introduced new ones with a view to enhancing the credibility of fiscal policy and providing a medium-term anchor. Enforcement and monitoring mechanisms have also been upgraded. However, these innovations have made the systems of rules more complicated to operate, while compliance has not improved. The SDN takes stock of past experiences, reviews recent reforms, and presents new research on the effectiveness of rules. It also proposes guiding principles for future reforms to strike a better balance between simplicity, flexibility, and enforceability. Read the blog
Mr. Sanjeev Gupta
,
Mr. Alex Segura-Ubiergo
, and
Enrique Flores
Algunos académicos han sostenido que la distribución directa a la población de ingresos públicos provenientes de recursos naturales ayudaría a los países ricos en recursos naturales a escapar de la “maldición de los recursos naturales”. Este documento analiza si esta propuesta constituye una alternativa política viable para países ricos en recursos naturales. La primera prioridad para los responsables de la formulación de políticas en los países ricos en materias primas consiste en establecer los objetivos de política fiscal para promover la estabilidad macroeconómica y el desarrollo de las economías. En este sentido, el establecimiento de un marco fiscal adecuado que aporte información para tomar decisiones sobre cuánto ahorrar y cuánto invertir, cómo atenuar la volatilidad de los ingresos públicos, y cómo abordar los problemas relacionados con el agotamiento de los recursos naturales debe preceder cualquier análisis sobre distribución directa de recursos a la población.
Mr. Sanjeev Gupta
,
Mr. Alex Segura-Ubiergo
, and
Enrique Flores
Some scholars have argued that direct distribution of natural resource revenues to the population would help resource-rich countries escape the “resource curse.” This discussion note analyzes whether this proposal is a viable policy alternative for resource-rich countries. The first priority for policymakers is to establish fiscal policy objectives to support macroeconomic stability and development objectives. In this regard, the establishment of an adequate fiscal framework that informs decisions on how much to save and invest, or how to smooth out revenue volatility, and deal with exhaustibility issues should precede any discussion of direct distribution of resource wealth to the population.
Ms. Daria V Zakharova
and
Ms. Charleen A Gust
Though many aspects of Russia's fiscal policy framework are close to best practice on paper, actual practice in recent years has been moving away from best practice. In particular, the continued focus on the overall rather than the nonoil balance, and the regular use of supplemental budgets to spend windfall oil revenues contribute to procylicality of fiscal policy, risking costly boom-bust cycles. Against this background, this paper suggests several improvements to the framework for fiscal policy.
Ms. Izabela Karpowicz
This paper describes the institutional changes that have induced a decline in the vertical fiscal imbalance (VFI) - defined as the share of sub-national own spending not financed through own revenues - in four European countries: Belgium, Italy, Norway, and Spain. The decline in VFI was achieved through progressive devolution of revenues to sub-national governments in Belgium, Italy, and Spain, while re-centralization of health sector expenditures was the cause of the decline in the VFI in Norway.