Une des questions fondamentales en économie est celle du rôle que devraient jouer les autorités publiques pour mitiger les fluctuations de l’activité économique. Cette thèse, organisée en trois chapitres, analyse comment les politiques économiques peuvent être caractérisées à travers différentes structures économiques et au cours du cycle économique. En particulier, la première partie de la thèse se concentre sur la politique budgétaire et analyse comment les différentes caractéristiques structurelles des pays affectent l’efficacité de la politique budgétaire. La deuxième partie analyse la conduite de la politique monétaire dans des pays en régime de ciblage d’inflation et la manière dont celle-ci a été affectée par l’expansionnisme monétaire sans précédent des économies avancées depuis la crise financière et économique globale. Le chapitre met en évidence le rôle des facteurs domestiques et externes qui affectent les décisions de politique monétaire dans les pays émergents. Etant donné que les politiques budgétaire et monétaire sont les outils les plus importants disponibles pour les autorités publiques pour la gestion de la politique macroéconomique, le troisième chapitre de la thèse analyse les bases théoriques qui soutiennent l’utilisation de ces politiques de manière contra-cyclique, et étudie comment, dans la pratique, ces politiques ont répondu aux fluctuations économiques en Amérique Latine au cours des deux dernières décennies. En particulier le chapitre analyse dans quelle mesure les politiques budgétaire et monétaire renforcent ou contrebalancent les fluctuations économiques, c’est-à-dire dans quelle mesure elles sont pro-cycliques ou contra-cycliques, et discute le rôle des institutions économiques. / One of the most fundamental questions in economics is what should be the role of economic authorities in addressing fluctuations in economic activity. This dissertation, organized in three chapters, analyses how economic policies can be characterized across economic structures and along the business cycle. In particular, the first part of the dissertation focuses on fiscal policy and addresses the question of how different structural characteristics across countries affect the effectiveness of fiscal policy. The second part analyses the conduct of monetary policy in inflation targeting countries and how it has been affected by the unprecedented expansionary monetary policies implemented by advanced economies since the recent global financial and economic crisis. The chapter highlights the role of domestic and external factors affecting the determination of monetary policy. Given that fiscal and monetary policies are the two most important tools available for policymakers in terms of macroeconomic management, the third chapter of the dissertation analyses the theoretical grounds for these policies to be used in a countercyclical manner, and studies how in practice these policies have responded to economic fluctuations in Latin America over the last two decades. In particular the chapter analyses the degree to which fiscal and monetary policies reinforce or counterbalance fluctuations in economic activity, i.e. whether these policies have been procyclical or countercyclical, and discusses the role of economic institutions.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Can a country function without a legislative framework able to inform decisionmaking processes taken at different spheres of government? To what extent would actions conducted at various spheres of government be efficiently coordinated and informed by appropriate channels of constitutional provisions and legislative amendments to consolidate financial and intergovernmental fiscal relations policy-making tools for the realization of an efficient local developmental state? Answers to the above mentioned two questions refer to normative fiscal policy principles and prescriptive instruments of intergovernmental fiscal transfer design, whose orientation suggests better ways of framing sound and coherent programs and interventions that strengthen cooperative synergy and transfer knowledge of experience gained in empirical investigations and various South African environments of higher academic learning. Growing evidence acknowledges South Africa as one of the young democratic countries that has been going through a period of transition over the past three years as it changes its system of public finance from a structure suited to the old apartheid system to one consistent with the new South African Constitutional dispensation. While the former system was highly centralized, the newconstitution makes a clear commitment to municipal governments as important providers of government services, with greater tax and spending powers. Even as local autonomy has been substantially increased, there remains uncertainty as to the most appropriate design of a system of intergovernmental fiscal grants to metropolitan areas and townships. This study analyses this situation and further develops a generic design for intergovernmental transfers and its suitability to the realities of South African municipalities on the ground within the framework of Cooperative Government. This study concludes that fiscal management, as a cross-cutting discipline, is a powerful instrument for government’s revenue sources at the national, provincial and local government levels. Financial management should be regarded as a co-coordinating mechanism managing government’s expenditure and catalyzing sound financial relationship for an efficient management in the country, thus allowing government to budget effectively for the delivery of goods and services in order to attain the constitutional mandate of a developmental state. / South Africa

In the field of international trade there is an intriguing tension between the ideological allure of free trade and the political reality of protectionism. Typically, the former is favored by scholars while the latter has been more historically prevalent. Protectionism in the form of tariffs and other obstacles trade was generally a preferred trade policy around the globe in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Sweden was no exception and has been seen as highly protectionist and mercantilist during this period. This thesis has sought to shed new light on Swedish trade policy between 1780 and 1830. It has done so by quantifying and homogenizing tariffs and import bans in order to be able to analyze the structure of tariffs. The thesis stands on a theoretical ground which takes into account the different plausible reasons for setting tariffs. It has placed some emphasis on the possible tension between the desire to shelter one’s own industry from foreign competition and the need to use tariffs for fiscal purposes, as an important source of government revenue. It is therefore argued that tariffs need to be separated theoretically and empirically. A simple model is presented which aims to discern three types of tariffs. The model takes into account the tariff rate itself, and also the structure of trade and the presence of domestic substitution. The thesis has found that Swedish tariffs were generally high over the period and that protectionism was prevalent in a large number of economic sectors. There is tentative evidence that protectionist tariffs also distorted trade in certain types of goods, even if they didn’t have an impact on total import levels. Tariffs were also set so as to separate between raw materials and more processed goods, what is called mercantilist differentiation. Substantial empirical support is given to the claim that certain tariffs on inelastic consumption goods were of great fiscal importance, and increasingly so as the period progressed. The fiscal pressure maintained or even increased the import tariffs, which made it possible to decrease tariffs on exports.

This thesis concerns fiscal rules which represent a possible solution of excessive deficits of public budgets. The chosen topic is very relevant as most developed countries are now facing the problem of fiscal imbalance. The aim of the thesis is to analyze existing rules in the Czech Republic and to formulate recommendations for its public budgets with regard to the specifics of the economic and political environment. The main hypothesis is that fiscal rules in the Czech Republic are not well designed and do not contribute to the stabilization of public finances. This hypothesis was partially proved true. Proposal to strengthen the fiscal framework by implementation of the reform of medium-term expenditure frameworks and by adopting debt rule at the constitutional level results from the realized findings. Further recommendation is to establish independent fiscal institution that would oversee the fiscal policy in the Czech Republic.

The aim of the thesis is to examine possible connections between economic results of public budgets, especially the most important part-state budget, and the course of the political cycle in Czech republic between years 1993 and 2015. The theoretical part is based on the Public choice theory, Theory of public finance and Political-business cycle theory. The practital part focuses on analysis of political situation in each political cycle and then on association with public and state budgets revenues and expenditures, their growth rate and the business cycle. Results of the analysis show that deficits of state budget are predominantly structural based. Moreover, a tendency to influence election results through released fiscal policy is also noticeable in some political cycles, which is consistent with the political-business cycle theory.

The thesis is concerned with the analysis of the development of public expenditures in Czech Republic between the years 2000 and 2015 with regard to the progress of political cycles. The analysis of overall development of each budget chapter (especially the year on year comparison) is based on real outcomes of state finances collected from final state accounts. The purpose of the thesis is to discover potential influence of political cycles on the level and structure of public expenses. The author created his own theoretical assumptions and set an original methodological approach. Final findings mostly comply with the created hypothesis.

La fragmentation de la politique fiscale de l'Etat s'opère par la démocratisation de la vie publique et de la crise économique marquée par une érosion du monopole étatique et une atomisation du processus décisionnel due à l'internationalité des questions fiscales. Une première partie démontre l'apparente cohésion de la politique fiscale malgré la dispersion institutionnelle issue du jeu entre l'exécutif et le législatif supplantés par l'activisme des forces sociales diffuses. Le « désordre normatif » est issu de l'éclatement des instruments de l'ordre juridique qu'une codification lacunaire n'a pas su restaurer. Le contexte économique inspire aussi les choix fiscaux de sortie de crise et la réflexion s'ouvre pour une politique fiscale de développement. La deuxième partie développe la compétence limitée de l'Etat en raison de la décision fiscale influencée par l'intégration en zone CEMAC et l'entrée en commerce juridique avec d'autres nations et organisations internationales. A la mondialisation, la politique fiscale se définit par la posture offensive ou défensive de l'Etat même si ce dernier continue de tenir le gouvernail de la décision fiscale. C'est un Etat imaginatif recherchant des solutions adéquates, conciliant exigences de la ponction fiscale avec celles de l'atteinte des objectifs macroéconomiques. Le décryptage de la politique fiscale devient une problématique centrée sur le rôle de l'Etat dans l'environnement post-moderne et capable d'assurer l'unité conceptuelle du processus décisionnel fiscal malgré les turbulences interne et internationale. C'est un Etat intelligent fédérant, les acteurs impliqués dans la construction d'un nouvel ordre fiscal. / Against the backdrop of the conceptual uniqueness of the tax policy implemented by the government, lies a genuine fragmentation of fiscal decision-making sources. The State organ ultimately responsible for tax policy choices actually bears the laborious compromise built on trading of choices between public and private stakeholders at national and international levels. The State of Cameroon which, since independence in 1960, has been the keystone of the whole political edifice, and the initiator of tax-related decisions, is witnessing an adjustment in its unique structure national level due to the combined effect of political democratization and economic crisis. Its erstwhile monopoly in the production of fiscal choices is being fragmented due to the increasingly assertive international scope of tax-related issues. In short, the State's tax jurisdiction is shifting from decision-making monopoly to shared decision-making prerogatives integrating national constraints and requirements at international level. Understanding fiscal policy becomes a central issue in the State's new role of implementing the social contract. The new challenge for the State in the post-modern environment is to enhance its ability to continue to ensure the conceptual uniqueness of the fiscal decision-making process despite the turbulence of the internal order and international society. It is the advent of a smart State bringing together stakeholders involved in the construction of a fiscal order.

La réflexion sur l‟utilisation de la politique budgétaire comme outil de stabilisation et de relance connaît un net regain d‟intérêt ces dernières années. Après près de trois décennies qui ont vu la dominance des idées néo-Classique, la récente crise financière des années 2008 a consacré le retour aux idées keynésiennes sur l‟efficacité de l‟outil budgétaire. Cette thèse s‟intéresse à ce thème et essaie de caractériser la politique budgétaire dans le contexte des pays en développement et son objectif final est de préciser dans quelle mesure cet outil de politique économique serait efficace pour ces pays. Le chapitre 2 traite de la question des effets des politiques budgétaires surprises. Autrement dit, et à partir d‟une modélisation en VAR structurels, cette partie se pose la question de savoir si le budget peut être utilisé de façon surprise pour relancer une économie et quels sont les défis que pose une telle mesure dans le contexte d‟une économie en développement. Le troisième chapitre à partir d‟un modèle de gravité analyse les relations entre la situation budgétaire dans les économies avancées ainsi que celle des pays émergents et les flux d‟investissement vers les économies à revenu intermédiaire. Cette étude montre qu‟un effet d‟éviction entre pays (développés et émergents) existe mais aussi que l‟économie mondiale tend vers un nouveau paradigme. Le dernier chapitre quant à lui étudie la cyclicité des politiques budgétaires pour un échantillon de pays d‟Afrique subsaharienne et d‟Amérique latine. La méthode choisie a permis de suivre l‟évolution de la procyclicité des politiques budgétaires d‟année en année et de montrer que les pays en développement surtout africains progressivement adoptent des politiques de plus en plus disciplinées et prudentes / The use of fiscal policy as a stabilization and stimulus tool face a renewed interest from analyst and policy makers. After almost three decades where neo-Classical ideas were dominant, the recent financial crisis (late 2007) marked the reborn of Keynesian ideas on the importance of the State budget during economic downturns. This dissertation focuses on this issue and provides with stylized facts of fiscal policies in developing economies, and the main aim being to be able to say whether fiscal policy is an efficient political economy tool. Chapter 2 focuses on the issue of unanticipated fiscal measures on the economy. Using a structural VAR approach it investigates whether unanticipated budget measures can be used to stimulate a declining economy and what kind of challenges and threats this strategy imposes to public authorities. Chapter 3, relying on a gravity model, analyses the relationship between emerging and advanced economies fiscal aggregates and capital flows. It shows that there exists a “global” crowding out effect of investment towards emerging markets and, most important is that world economy is entering into a new paradigm. The last chapter from a panel of Sub-Saharan African and Latin American economies studies the issue of fiscal procyclicality. The empirical strategy has allowed us on a yearly basis to characterise the cyclical behaviour of fiscal policies in both set of countries. It has been shown that developing countries especially African ones are adopting progressively more prudent and disciplined policies.

This thesis analyzes monetary and fiscal policy tools used throughout 2008-2011 in the USA. The objective is to evaluate their effects on the key macroeconomic indicators. The first chapter reflects on the pre-crisis period. It summarizes the economic policy from 2000, describes the development on the real estate market and the collapse of the mortgage market. The second chapter focuses on the economic policy during the crisis. In this chapter, all monetary and fiscal tools are chronologically presented from 2008 to 2011. The third chapter evaluates monetary policy effectiveness and its ability to affect money supply through interest rates. The last chapter addresses the American public funds. It identifies costs of the Troubled Asset Relief Program and focuses on the structure of the Federal Debt.

The diploma thesis focuses on the current economic problems of the eurozone, which are caused by the existence of independent monetary policy and seventeen fiscal policies. The theoretical part describes the complex relationship of fiscal and monetary policies as well as the optimum currency area criteria. The practical part analyzing monetary policy in terms of inflation, inflation differentials, development of the real effective exchange rate, credit expansion and the impact of low interest rates on the creation of housing bubbles. Analysis of fiscal policy focuses on the criteria of the Stability and Growth Pact in terms of the fiscal deficit and government debt development. At the end, the diploma thesis provides a brief description of the new fiscal agreement and the European Stability Mechanism treaty.