Achim Truger (Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Recht Berlin)
Implementing the Golden Rule for Public Investment in Europe: Safeguarding Public Investment and Supporting the Recovery.
WWWforEurope Policy Paper No. 22
WWWforEurope: Welfare, Wealth and Work for Europe, März 2015, 66 Seiten
Mit finanzieller Unterstützung von: Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft mbH – Österreichische Austauschdienst-GesmbH
Most parts of the Euro area have seen seven years of deep economic crisis. The strategy of tightening the fiscal constraints
of the Stability and Growth Pact has driven many member countries into austerity. In contrast, the golden rule of public investment
proposed in this study would be one important element of the necessary institutional reform. The rule is widely accepted in
traditional public finance and would allow financing net public investment by government deficits thus promoting intergenerational
fairness as well as economic growth. A pragmatic version focusing on net public investment as defined in the national accounts
minus military expenditures plus investment grants for the private sector could quickly be implemented. Net public investment
should be deducted from the relevant deficit measures of the Stability and Growth Pact and the fiscal compact. Over time it
could be technically and statistically refined and potentially include other – more intangible – types of investment-like
education expenditures. As political implementation would probably take some time, the golden rule would have to be complemented
by expansionary fiscal policy to provide the urgently needed boost to the European economy in the short term. This could be
done by a short-term European Investment Programme similar to the 2008 European Economic Recovery Programme during the Great
Recession. Such a programme could also allow for investment needs beyond the narrow national accounts definition to contribute
to public investment in a broader sense, e.g., for expenditure related to the currently neglected Europe 2020 goals such as
social inclusion.
Forschungsbereich:Makroökonomie und öffentliche Finanzen