Fiscal Performance: The Role of Institutions and Politicians

Many industrial countries are characterised by poor fiscal performance. Public debt has reached an unsustainable level in numerous eurozone countries, but also in the US and in Japan. The provision of public goods and services often lacks efficiency. Tax systems regularly violate principles of economic efficiency and equity.

This conference intends to explore the drivers of fiscal performance across all dimensions of fiscal policy. The approach is comprehensive. We invite contributions that analyse the role of institutions or focus on the individual characteristics of political actors.

More specifically, the event addresses the following topics (or closely related topics):

• Individual characteristics of politicians and fiscal performance
• Individual characteristics of politicians and general economic performance
• Measurement of individual fiscal preferences of (voters and/or politicians)
• Candidate selection
• Political careers
• Campaign financing
• Fiscal decision making in parliaments
• The role of fiscal rules
• Impact of the new European fiscal governance