Rady polityki fiskalnej jako narzędzie poprawy jakości polityki fiskalnej
Fiscal Policy Councils as a Tool of Improving the Quality of the Fiscal Policy

Summary/Abstract: Practice shows that politicians have a strong bias towards excessive deficits, and actual fiscalpolicy is often distant from the optimum described in the economics textbooks. Sub-optimal fiscalpolicy was one of the main factors that contributed to the depth of the economic downturn in someeuro area countries during the global financial crisis. Theoretically, fiscal rules were supposedto prevent such problems, but in practice they failed. Their low efficiency prompts more andmore economists to support the idea of fiscal policy councils – collegial bodies whose task isto improve the quality of budgetary policy. According to the International Monetary Fund data,39 such councils now operate in the world. The purpose of this article is to present the conceptsof fiscal policy councils discussed in the literature of the subject, analyze the characteristics of thecouncils currently operating, and to describe the experiences from their activity so far. The studyuses the latest data from the International Monetary Fund Fiscal Council Dataset. The authoranalyses also what would be the best way of introducing a fiscal council in Poland.

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