Fiscal Politics in Time: Paths to Budget Consolidation 1980-2000

38 Pages Posted: 9 May 2010 Last revised: 23 Aug 2010

See all articles by Sebastian Dellepiane

Sebastian Dellepiane

University College Dublin - School of Politics and International Relations

Niamh Hardiman

University College Dublin (UCD)

Date Written: April 22, 2010

Abstract

The comparative study of debt and fiscal consolidation has acquired a new focus in the context of the current fiscal 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’. We draw on classical explanatory tools of comparative political economy, including 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 paired comparisons of Ireland and Britain, and Greece and Spain.

Keywords: comparative political economy, fiscal consolidation, European periphery, European Monetary Union, interest intermediation

JEL Classification: E61, E62, E63, F15, H11, H61, H62, H63, H77, O52, O57

Suggested Citation

Dellepiane, Sebastian and Hardiman, Niamh, Fiscal Politics in Time: Paths to Budget Consolidation 1980-2000 (April 22, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1600669 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1600669

Sebastian Dellepiane

University College Dublin - School of Politics and International Relations ( email )

Belfield
Dublin 4
Ireland

Niamh Hardiman (Contact Author)

University College Dublin (UCD) ( email )

Belfield
Belfield, Dublin 4 4
Ireland

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