DPP Research Seminar - "The Politics of Fiscal Consolidation Revisited"

Type: 
Departmental Seminar
Audience: 
CEU Community Only
Building: 
Nador u. 13
Room: 
001
Monday, October 14, 2013 - 11:00am
Add to Calendar
Date: 
Monday, October 14, 2013 - 11:00am to 12:40pm

Central European University’s Department of Public Policy

cordially invites you to attend the DPP Research Seminar

Time:         11.00 am, Monday, October 14, 2013

Venue:       Nador 13 Room 001 

Evelyne Hübscher (CEU, Department of Public Policy)

The Politics of Fiscal Consolidation Revisited 

Discussant: Zbigniew Truchlewski (CEU, Department of Political Science)

This paper reexamines the capacity of governments to implement fiscal reforms in times of austerity. Unlike existing studies, which mostly focus on gradual policy changes, this analysis distinguishes between reform events and the size of fiscal reforms. This strategy clarifies inconsistent results about the underlying political mechanism in fiscal policy-making. Based on an action-based dataset that includes information about discretionary changes in taxation and government spending policies from 1978 until 2009 for 16 countries, the study shows that contrary to recent scholarship, that politics still matters but that strategic considerations strongly determine the timing of government action.

 

Joshua Posaner (Freie Universität Berlin)

The price of politics in Gazprom’s long-term gas contracts with Central and Eastern Europe 

Discussant: Michael LaBelle (CEU, Business School)

The natural gas trade between Russia and Europe is influenced heavily by politics. The weight of history, issue linkage in contract negotiations, and the controversy surrounding a series of major supply infrastructure projects illustrates this. Average contract price data for some of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe between the years 2010-2012 give us an opportunity to measure the political premium - if there is one - charged to those states that seek to ease over-reliance on Russian gas, and have not supported pipelines like Nord Stream or South Stream. Further, it opens up an area of research into the cost impact of the structural clauses imbedded in Gazprom's long-term contracts with consumer states within the EU.