Fiscal Policy in Europe After the Financial and Economic Crisis: Incentives, Stabilisation and Distributional Effects

The financial and economic crisis had a severe impact on public finances in Europe. The immediate short-term fiscal policy responses served to cushion some of the adverse effects of the crisis. However, the initial expansionary fiscal stance of was abandoned and fiscal consolidation measures were implemented in many Member States of the European Union when the economic crisis turned into a sovereign debt crisis.

The objective of this research project is to provide an overview of the different fiscal policy responses to the crisis in EU Member States and to discuss how they have affected labour supply incentives, income distribution, and the stabilisation properties of national tax and transfer systems in Europe. The empirical analysis will be conducted with EUROMOD, a tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union which allows for a micro-founded analysis of national policies.

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Peichl, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim, Research Group of International Distribution and Redistribution and University of Mannheim
• Dr. Mathias Dolls, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim, Research Group of International Distribution and Redistribution
• Dipl.-Vw. Christian Wittneben, ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim, Research Group of International Distribution and Redistribution
• Antoine Bozio, Institut des politiques publiques Paris and Institute for Fiscal Studies, London
• Paul Johnson, Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, and University College London