This thesis addresses problems in the area of mechanism design. In many settings in winch collective decisions are made, individuals' actual preferences are not publicly observable. As a result, individuals should be relied on to reveal this information. We are interested in an important application of mechanism design, which is the construction of desirable procedures for deciding upon resource allocation or task assignment. We make two main contributions. First, we propose a new mechanism for allocating a divisible commodity between a number of buyers efficiently and fairly. Buyers are assumed to behave as price-anticipators rather than as price-takers. The proposed mechanism is as parsimonious as possible, in the sense that it requires participants to report a one-dimensional message (scalar strategy) instead of an entire utility function, as required by Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanisms. We show that this mechanism yields efficient allocations in Nash equilibria and moreover, that these equilibria are envy-free. Additionally, we present distinct results that this mechanism is the only simple scalar strategy mechanism that both implements efficient Nash equilibria and satisfies the no envy axiom of fairness. The mechanism's Nash equilibria are proven to satisfy the fairness properties of both Ranking and Voluntary Participation. Our second contribution is to develop optimal VCG mechanisms in order to assign identical economic "bads" (for example, costly tasks) to agents. An optimal VCG mechanism minimizes the largest ratio of budget imbalance to efficient surplus over all cost profiles. The optimal non-deficit VCG mechanism achieves asymptotic budget balance, yet the non-deficit requirement is incompatible with reasonable welfare bounds. If we omit the non-deficit requirement, individual rationality greatly changes the behavior of surplus loss and deficit loss. Allowing a slight deficit, the optimal individually rational VCG mechanism becomes asymptotically budget balanced. Such a phenomenon cannot be found in the case of assigning economic "goods."

This thesis analyzes the effect of the two Debt Financing policies: Monetary and Bond Issuing, on the Dynamics Development. Economic variables, like GDP growth, interest rate and inflation are discussed, as the key determinants in the Debt Dynamics process development. The proposition of countries EMU members having higher Debt Dynam-ics level is suggested. This proposition is based on the fact that EMU member countries cannot use their Monetary policy to the extend it is needed in hard times. Due to this lack of choice EMU members can only intensively use Bond financing. The empirical findings of the paper indicate that the difference in Debt Dynamics between the euro us-ing and non-using countries exists. The difference indicates that the EMU member countries tend to have higher Debt Dynamics than the rest of the EU countries. These findings are discussed from different sides, concluding that Monetary Policy does mat-ter in certain cases. At the same time a quite high level of Debt Dynamics in both groups is discovered, which is also an interesting issue to address.

No description available.

The subject of this diploma work is to analyze proposals of fiscal consolidations in the Czech Republic and their following implementation in the years of 2002 to 2012. This work is trying to answer a question whether these proposals of the fiscal consolidaions were elaborated in agreement with research conclusions in the given field and whether they were successful in the sense of reduction of a deficit of the public budgets and public debt. In the first part of this work recent empirical studies with the following recomendations in the terms of realization of a fiscal consolidation are presented. Subsequently, a theoretical background in the form of keynesian and, so called, non-keynesian (expansionary fiscal consolidation hypothesis) effects of consolidation on economy is discussed. In the second part of this work an analysis of the proposals and implementation of the fiscal consolidations in the Czech Republic are presented with an attention to the evolution of the public budgets deficits and the public debt dynamic. The work uses, so called, narrative approach which is based on a study of open public documents from the archives of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, Parliament of the Czech Republic and the Czech National Bank. In the conclusions of this analysis it is stated that not a single implemented fiscal consolidation was successful in the terms of a reduction of the public budgets deficits and the public debt.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-10-06T15:22:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Augusto Andreis_.pdf: 1014563 bytes, checksum: 6dd9c7340de16a01a8e4c95110d7eff8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-06T15:22:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Augusto Andreis_.pdf: 1014563 bytes, checksum: 6dd9c7340de16a01a8e4c95110d7eff8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-21 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O objetivo principal desta dissertação foi analisar o comportamento da política fiscal no período posterior a implementação do Plano Real. Sabendo que as finanças públicas são afetadas diretamente pelo ciclo econômico, a análise foi feita através da metodologia do balanço orçamentário estrutural, que tem como premissa básica a eliminação do componente cíclico das receitas e despesas. Assim, optou-se por computar o balanço orçamentário estrutural pela ótica da OCDE e do FMI, sendo que, neste último, utilizou-se dois métodos distintos para obter a elasticidade receita-produto. Os resultados indicam que, entre 1998 e 2015, pode-se dividir a condução da política fiscal em três distintos períodos. O primeiro deles, que compreende o período 1998-2003, a política fiscal teve como objetivo a geração de superávits primários, ou seja, este período pode ser considerado um momento de ajuste fiscal, haja vista que ocorreram recorrentes contrações fiscais, todavia, esta orientação da política fiscal fez com que esta tenha apresentado um comportamento pró-cíclico. Já o segundo período, que vai de 2004 a 2011, pode ser considerado um período onde a política fiscal foi utilizada como instrumento de suavização dos movimentos ondulares da economia, ou seja, pode-se afirmar que a política fiscal teve um comportamento anticíclico. E, por fim, o terceiro período, que compreende o momento 2012-2015, onde houve recorrentes expansões fiscais, pode ser considerado um momento onde a política fiscal foi utilizada com o intuito de expandir a demanda agregada, o que acabou por fazer com que seu comportamento fosse pró-cíclico. É importante destacar que o ajuste fiscal ocorrido entre 1998 e 2003, que reduziu consideravelmente a dívida pública federal, pode ser um dos fatores que permitiu utilizar a política fiscal como instrumento anticíclico no período da crise do subprime. Neste sentido, se coloca em perspectiva a importância de um novo ajuste fiscal para fazer frente a possíveis crises futuras. Além disso, o período de ajuste fiscal no Brasil deveria ter ocorrido entre 2012 e 2014, momento onde o PIB cresceu acima de sua tendência de longo prazo, mas esse momento foi perdido. Desta forma, a política fiscal expansionista contribuiu para o país crescer acima de sua tendência e também para a piora das finanças públicas durante alguns anos. A proposta de ajuste fiscal pretendido em 2016 se torna muito mais custosa do que seria caso feito anteriormente. Ademais, a política fiscal brasileira apresenta poucas semelhanças com os países vizinhos e nenhum deles apresentou expansão fiscal semelhante a do Brasil, entre os anos de 2012 e 2015. Já ao comparar-se o comportamento fiscal brasileiro com os países pertencentes ao BRICS, observou-se novamente poucas semelhanças. / The main objective of this dissertation was to analyze the fiscal policy’s behavior in post Plano Real implementation period. Knowing that public finances are directly affected by the economic cycle, the analysis were made through the methodology of structural budget balance, which has as its basic premise the cyclically component of revenue and expenditure elimination. That being, it has been chosen to compute the structural budget balance by the optic of OECD and IMF, being that, in the last case, it has been utilized two distinct methods to obtain elasticity of revenue with respect to output. The results indicate that, between 1998 and 2015, the fiscal policy conduction can be divided into three distinct periods. The first of them, which comprehends the period 1998-2003, the fiscal policy had as objective to generate primary balance, that is, this period can be considered a moment of fiscal adjust, considering that there has been recurrent fiscal contractions, however, this fiscal policy orientation has made that to submit a procyclical behavior towards it self. The second period, which comprehends the 2004 to 2011 period, can be considered where the fiscal policy has been utilized as a tool for smoothing the wavy movements of economy, that is, it can be affirmed that the fiscal policy had an countercyclical behavior. And finally, the third period, which comprehends the period between 2012 to 2015, where has been recurrent fiscal expansions, and can be considered a moment when the fiscal policy has been used to expand the aggregate demand, what ended up to making its behavior to be procyclical. It is important to point out that the fiscal adjustment that occurred between 1998 and 2003, which has reduced the federal public debt considerably, can be one of the factors that allowed utilizing fiscal policy as an anticyclic tool during the subprime crisis. In that way, the importance of a new fiscal adjustment to confront possible future crisis is put in perspective. Besides that, the fiscal adjustment period in Brazil should had occurred between 2012 and 2014, a moment where the GDP grown above its long term tendency, but the moment was lost. In that way, the importance of a new fiscal adjustment to confront possible future crisis is put in perspective. Besides that, the fiscal adjustment period in Brazil should had occurred between 2012 and 2014, a moment where the GDP grown above its long term tendency, but the moment was lost. In that manner, expansionist fiscal policy has contributed towards the country’s growth above its trend and also to the worsen of public finances for a few years. The fiscal adjustment proposal pretended in 2016 becomes too expensive than if it was done before. Furthermore, the brazilian fiscal policy presents too little similarities with its neighbour countries and none of them presented fiscal expansion similar to Brazil’s between the years of 2012 and 2015. Although, comparing Brazil’s fiscal behavior with countries in BRICS, too liitle similarities are found once again.

The current fiscal policy does not differentiate capital expenditure from current expenditure. Since the global deficit target is fixed according to the present fiscal policy rule, the non financial expenditure becomes pro cyclical, and the public investment is adjusted to meet the targeted deficit. As a result, the public investment has dramatically decreased which, in turn, has affected the international competitiveness and the economic and social development of the Peruvian society. This paper proposes: 1) change the public expenditure policy public investment by eliminating its pro cyclical bias; and 2) redefining the system of fiscal accounting. To meet this purposes the budget must be divided in two parts: the current budget with a saving or primary surplus target, and the investment expenditure based on a rule of directing the public debt only to finance this kind of expenditure over the economic cycle. This is the so called Public Investment Golden Rule. To this Golden Rule is added other according to which the ratio of public net debt must be sustainable during the economic cycle. Finally, it’s proposed to adopting the new IMF accounting system. The Golden Rule becomes pretty velar in the context of this new system. When the operational result becomes equal to cero, the net investment becomes equal to the public debt. Hence, the null operational result according to the new accounting system is the only one which is consistent with the Golden Rule. / La actual política fiscal no diferencia los gastos de capital de los gastos corrientes. La regla vigente de fijación de metas globales de déficit convierte al gasto no financiero en una variable procíclica, y la inversión pública es la que se ajusta para cumplir las metas de déficit. Esta política fiscal procíclica ha reducido la inversión pública a niveles mínimos sin precedentes históricos, conspirando así contra el desarrollo y la competitividad del país. En este trabajo se propone: 1) cambiar la política de gasto, eliminando el sesgo procíclico de la inversión pública; y 2) rediseñar la contabilidad fiscal. Para ello el presupuesto público debe dividirse en dos partes: uno de gasto corriente, con una meta de ahorro o de superávit primario corriente anual, y otro de gasto de inversión basado en una regla de destinar el endeudamiento, a lo largo del ciclo económico, a financiar solo el gasto de inversión y no el gasto corriente. Esta es la Regla de Oro de la Inversión pública. A esta regla se le adiciona otra según la cual la deuda neta del gobierno como porcentaje del PBI debe mantenerse, durante el ciclo económico, en un nivel sostenible. Asimismo, se plantea rediseñar la contabilidad fiscal sobre la base del nuevo sistema de contabilidad del FMI. Con este sistema, la Regla de Oro se hace aún más comprensible: cuando el resultado operativo es igual a cero, la inversión neta sería exactamente igual al endeudamiento. Por tanto, el único resultado coherente con la Regla de Oro en esta nueva contabilidad es que el ahorro corriente o resultado operativo sea nulo sobre el ciclo económico.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Flavio Portella Daniel.pdf: 538729 bytes, checksum: 0932c95c07e4d068ac5d167abf4d29a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-06-03 / This paper is aimed to show the relation between fiscal policy and business cycles using the structural budget balance as a tool to define the cyclical part of the fiscal results. We believe the better use of fiscal policy should respect business cycles because a pattern of economic growth today may not be seen in the future. This fact may cause a direct impact to the welfare state. Thus, we did a review of literature where we could see that the better fiscal action before business cycles is a counter-cyclical fiscal policy. However, this policy has been in use for just developing countries. Volatility of the government spending, access to international market credit, political pressures, control of corruption and level of fiscal institutions can limit the application of optimal fiscal policy during the business cycles / Este trabalho tem como objetivo mostrar a relação entre política fiscal e os ciclos econômicos, apresentando o balanço orçamentário estrutural como instrumento para definir o componente cíclico dos resultados fiscais de um país. Acreditamos que o melhor uso da política fiscal deva sempre considerar a existência dos ciclos econômicos, pois um padrão de crescimento da economia hoje pode não ser assistido no futuro, trazendo impactos diretos ao bem-estar da nação. Dessa forma, foi feita uma resenha da literatura onde foi possível constatar que a melhor forma de atuar diante os ciclos é através da política fiscal contra-cíclica, sendo esta, somente praticada pelos países desenvolvidos. Fatores como dispersão dos gastos públicos, acesso ao mercado de crédito internacional, pressões políticas, controle de corrupção e nível institucional das autarquias fiscais podem ser apontados como limitadores à implantação da política fiscal ótima durante os ciclos econômicos

Submitted by Sara Ribeiro (sara.ribeiro@ucb.br) on 2018-09-17T17:15:52Z No. of bitstreams: 1 EsdrasBellezadoNascimentoDissertacao2018.pdf: 1012336 bytes, checksum: b0f1eb804870cec8c2b17a6140c43b0d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Sara Ribeiro (sara.ribeiro@ucb.br) on 2018-09-17T17:16:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 EsdrasBellezadoNascimentoDissertacao2018.pdf: 1012336 bytes, checksum: b0f1eb804870cec8c2b17a6140c43b0d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-17T17:16:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EsdrasBellezadoNascimentoDissertacao2018.pdf: 1012336 bytes, checksum: b0f1eb804870cec8c2b17a6140c43b0d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-29 / This paper presents an analysis of the Fiscal Responsability Act as an enforcement tool of the national economic policy of the Union. Besides being an important management tool for the Public Administrator, the LRF introduced effective changes in the history of public management in Brazil. The LRF is a code of conduct for all public administrators and an efficient tool for managers to better control the resources that are available to them, which affects the three branches of government (Executive, Legislative and Judiciary), and the three spheres of government (federal, state and municipal). It first discusses the historical context of the development of the LRF. Next, it analyzes the constitutional grounds of the LRF and its structural principles. Lastly, it explores the current challenges of the LRF. / Este trabalho analisa a Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal (LRF) como instrumento de execução da política econômica nacional da União. Além de ser uma importante ferramenta gerencial para o Administrador Público, a LRF veio inserir mudanças efetivas na história da gestão pública no Brasil. É um código de conduta para todos os administradores públicos e um eficaz instrumento que o gestor tem em mãos para gerir da melhor maneira os recursos que lhes são disponibilizados, e que passa a valer para os três Poderes (Executivo, Legislativo e Judiciário), nas três esferas de governo (federal, estadual e municipal). A pesquisa primeiro discorre sobre o contexto histórico do surgimento da LRF, posteriormente analisa os fundamentos constitucionais da LRF e seus princípios estruturantes e, por fim, apresenta um estudo sobre os desafios atuais da LRF.

Die vorliegende Dissertation beschäftigt sich mit der Fragestellung, ob Fiskalpolitik die Gesamtnachfrage erhöhen kann, wenn eine Reihe von Haushalten und Unternehmen Finanzierungsbeschränkungen unterliegt. Das erste Essay liefert Evidenz zur Größe von Fiskalmultiplikatoren aus der Eurozone und den USA. Das Essay kommt zu dem Schluss, dass es in der Literatur hinreichend Hinweise gibt, dass expansive Fiskalpolitik, insbesondere in Form einer Erhöhung der Staatsausgaben oder in Form gezielter Transfers an liquiditätsbeschränkte Haushalte, die Wirtschaftstätigkeit in einer tiefen Rezession stark stimulieren kann. Das zweite Essay untersucht die Auswirkungen der Fiskalpolitik auf den privaten Konsum in Abhängigkeit vom Stadium des Konjunkturzyklus sowie dem Zustand der öffentlichen Finanzen. Die Untersuchung wird für ein jährliches Panel bestehend aus 16 OECD Ländern für den Zeitraum von 1970-2011 durchgeführt. Die Studie zeigt, dass Liquiditätsbeschränkungen bei den Haushalten die Wirksamkeit der Fiskalpolitik in den betrachteten Regimes verändern. Das dritte Essay geht der Frage nach der Größe des Staatsausgabenmultiplikators in einem DSGE-Modell mit Finanzintermediation nach. Als Hauptergebnis ist herauszustellen, dass der kumulierte Multiplikators einer vorübergehenden Erhöhung der Staatsausgaben in Regimen, in denen sich Banken Finanzierungsbeschränkungen gegenübersehen, größer als eins ist. Im Gegensatz dazu ist der Multiplikator kleiner als eins, wenn die Finanzierungsbeschränkungen gelockert sind. Das vierte Essay beschäftigt sich mit der Interaktion von Finanzierungsbeschränkungen und Arbeitsmarktimperfektionen. In der Modellökonomie wird ein positiver Produktivitätsschock durch endogene Fluktuationen an den Finanzmärkten verstärkt. Das Essay weist nach, dass, wenn Löhne über Nash-Verhandlungen gesetzt werden, ein Produktivitätsschock die Volatilität der Löhne substantiell erhöht. / This dissertation asks whether fiscal policy can be effective in boosting aggregate demand when borrowing constraints bind tightly across a wide range of households and firms. The work consists of four essays. The first essay surveys evidence on fiscal multipliers from the Euro area and the United States. From this essay it can be concluded that there is ample evidence in the literature that expansionary fiscal policy, especially in the form of an increase in government purchases or in targeted transfers to liquidity-constrained households, may strongly stimulate economic activity in times of a deep recession. The second essay examines the effects of fiscal policy on private consumption conditional on the phase of the business cycle and the state of the public finances in a yearly panel of 16 OECD countries. The essay demonstrates that binding liquidity constraints on households can alter the efficacy of the policy changes in the four regimes---defined by the conditioning states. The third essay examines the size of the government purchases multiplier in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with financial intermediation. The main result is that the size of the cumulative multipliers of a temporary rise in government purchases is higher than one in regimes when financing constraints on banks bind tightly. In contrast, in times when financing constraints are loose the multipliers are smaller than one. The fourth essay studies the interaction between financing constraints and labor market imperfections and the role of this interaction in the labor market dynamics. In the model economy, a positive productivity shock is amplified through endogenous fluctuations in the financial market. The essay shows that if wages are set via Nash bargaining, the productivity shock increases substantially the volatility of wages.

Global warming is currently a major challenge faced by the world. Reduction of carbon emissions is of paramount importance in the context of global warming. There are widespread ongoing efforts to find satisfactory ways of surmounting this challenge. The basic objective of all such efforts can be summarized as conception and formation of protocols to reduce the pace of global carbon levels. Countries and global companies are now engaged in understanding systematic ways of achieving well defined emission targets. In this dissertation, we explore the specific problem faced by a global industry or global company in allocating carbon emission reduction units to its different divisions and supply chain partners in achieving a required target of reductions in its carbon reduction program. The problem becomes a challenging one since the divisions and supply chain partners are often autonomous and could exhibit strategic behavior. Game theory and mechanism design provide a natural modeling tool for capturing the strategic dynamics involved in this problem. DSIC (Dominant Strategy Incentive Compatibility), AE (Allocative Efficiency), and SBB (Strict Budget Balance) are the key desirable properties for carbon reduction allocation mechanisms. But due to an impossibility result in mechanism design, DSIC, AE, and SBB can never be simultaneously achieved. Hence in this dissertation, we offer as contributions, two elegant solutions to this carbon emission reduction allocation problem. The first contribution is a mechanism which is DSIC and AE. We first propose a straightforward Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism based solution to the problem, leading to a DSIC and AE reverse auction protocol for allocating carbon reductions among the divisions. This solution, however, leads to a high level of budget imbalance. To reduce budget imbalance, we use redistribution mechanisms, without affecting the key properties of DSIC and AE. The Cavallo-Bailey redistribution mechanism, when applied to the above reverse auction protocol leads to reduced budget imbalance. To reduce the imbalance further, we propose an innovative forward auction protocol which achieves less imbalance when combined with the Cavallo-Bailey redistribution mechanism. The forward auction protocol also has the appealing feature of handsomely rewarding divisions that reduce emissions and levying appropriate penalties on divisions that do not participate in emission reductions. The second contribution is a DSIC and SBB mechanism. Even though the first mechanism tries to reduce the budget imbalance, there is always a surplus which cannot be distributed among divisions and is wasted. So, in this part, by slightly compromising on efficiency, we propose a mechanism which is DSIC and SBB. The SBB property guarantees that there is no need for any monetary support from an external agency for implementing the mechanism and there is no leakage of revenue.