Essays on fiscal sustainability in Europe

Fiscal sustainability is present when the current government debt equates to the present value of future budget surpluses or their excess over deficits but since 1970 the EU countries on average had a surplus budget only in one year. The first aim of the thesis is to see whether Europe has achieved fiscal sustainability, whereas the second aim is to analyse the effects of Maastricht and the Stability and Growth Pact to this end. Another research aim is to present a formal fiscal sustainability assessment for the EU accession countries. Finally, the thesis bridges fiscal and external sustainability and studies the economy-wide sustainability separately in 'old' Europe and the accession countries. [Continues.]