101 Proposals to reform the Stability and Growth Pact. Why so many? A Survey

The failure of key EU Member States to respect the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) a few years after its inception triggered a heated debate on how to reform the framework of fiscal policy coordination in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). This paper systematically analyzes 101 reform proposals presented by professional academic and non-academic economists prior to March 2005, when the Council of the European Union adopted a revised version of the SGP. Each proposal is characterized by a set of variables reflecting features such as the degree of modification of the SGP, the background of its author(s), the main aim attached to fiscal policy coordination in the EMU, the timing of the proposal and the type of proposal made. Using multivariate statistical analysis, roughly four different schools of thought concerning the reform of the SGP are identified. In line with the main findings of the political economy literature, all four schools of thought share the view that in the absence of specific rules fiscal policy would lead to excessive deficits and hence affect the conduct of the common monetary policy. However, beyond this common denominator, there is no consensus on how best to co-ordinate fiscal policy.Several explanations for the multitude of proposals are presented, the most important being the present lack of a consensus in the economics profession concerning the role of fiscal policy.Monetary union, euro, fiscal policy, Stability and Growth Pact, international policy coordination, EMU, European Union, Europe, Fischer, Jonung, Larch

101 proposals to reform the Stability and Growth Pact. Why so many? A survey.

The failure of key EU Member States to respect the provisions of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) a few years after its inception triggered a heated debate on how to reform the framework of fiscal policy coordination in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). This paper analyzes 101 reform proposals presented by professional academic and non-academic economists prior to March 2005, when the Council of the European Union adopted a revised version of the SGP. Roughly four different schools of thought concerning the reform of the SGP are identified. In line with the main findings of the political economy literature, all four schools of thought share the view that in the absence of specific rules fiscal policy would lead to excessive deficits and hence affect the conduct of the common monetary policy. However, beyond this common denominator, there is no consensus on how best to co-ordinate fiscal policy. We present several explanations for the multitude of proposals, the most important being the present lack of a consensus in the economics profession concerning the role of fiscal policy. Economists hold diverging views on the goals, instruments, efficiency and institutions for fiscal policy-making. This state of affairs is in sharp contrast to the case of monetary policy. Also, the euro area is the first case where monetary policy-making is centralized while fiscal policy-making is decentralized to national governments.Monetary union, euro, fiscal policy, Stability and Growth Pact, international policy coordination, EMU, European nion, Europe

The Effect of Direct Democratic Institutions on Income Redistribution: Evidence for Switzerland

There is an intensive dispute in political economics about the impact of institutions on income redistribution. While the main focus is on comparison between different forms of representative democracy, the influence of direct democracy on redistribution has attracted much less attention. In this paper, employing both a composite index and measures of single institutions, we find that direct democracy is particularly associated with lower welfare spending. Moreover, we estimate a model which explains the determinants of achieved redistribution measured by Gini coefficients using panel data provided by the Swiss Federal Tax Office from 1981 to 1997. While our results indicate that less public funds are used to redistribute income and actual redistribution is lower, inequality is not reduced to a lesser extent in direct than in representative democracies for a given initial income distribution.Income Redistribution; Direct Democracy; Referendums; Initiatives

The Effect of Direct Democracy on Income Redistribution: Evidence for Switzerland

There is an intensive dispute in political economics about the impact of institutions on income redistribution. While the main focus is on comparison between different forms of representative democracy, the influence of direct democracy on redistribution has attracted much less attention. According to theoretical arguments and previous empirical results, government policies of income redistribution are expected to be more in line with median voter preferences in direct than in representative democracies. In this paper, we find that institutions of direct democracy are associated with lower public spending and revenue, particularly lower welfare spending and broad-based income and property (wealth) tax revenue. Moreover, we estimate a model which explains the determinants of redistribution using panel data provided by the Swiss Federal Tax Office from 1981 to 1997 and a cross section of (representative) individual data from 1992. While our results indicate that less public funds are used to redistribute income and actual redistribution is lower, inequality is not reduced to a lesser extent in direct than in representative democracies for a given initial income distribution. This finding might well indicate the presence of efficiency gains in redistribution policies.income redistribution, direct democracy, referenda, initiatives

Particle-Wise Higher-Order SPH Field Approximation for DVR

When employing Direct Volume Rendering (DVR) for visualizing volumetric scalar fields, classification is generally performed on a piecewise constant or piecewise linear approximation of the field on a viewing ray. Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) data sets define volumetric scalar fields as the sum of individual particle contributions, at highly varying spatial resolution. We present an approach for approximating SPH scalar fields along viewing rays with piece-wise polynomial functions of higher order. This is done by approximating each particle contribution individually and then efficiently summing the results, thus generating a higher-order representation of the field with a resolution adapting to the data resolution in the volume

Reviews

Rewievs: Eva Koch: Neolithic Bog Pots from Zealand, Møn, Lolland and Falster (by Anders Fischer).Gabriel Cooney: Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland (by Lars Holten).Malcolm Todd: Die Germanen. Von den frühen Stammesverbanden zu den Erben des Weströmischen Reiches (by Birger Storgaard).Michael Stafford: From Forager to Farmer in Flint. A Lithic Analysis of the Prehistoric Transition to Agriculture in Southern Scandinavia (by Poul Otto Nielsen)