A presente dissertação tem o objetivo de analisar os papéis do direito para a política fiscal no Brasil, a partir de um estudo sobre o que esta pesquisa chama de regime jurídico da política fiscal. Interpreta-se esse regime jurídico como o conjunto de princípios e regras que regulam a gestão do gasto e do endividamento públicos. A pesquisa busca combinar uma análise das funções do regime jurídico para objetivos de política fiscal com um estudo sobre o papel do direito para a própria legitimação social desses objetivos. Assim, argumenta-se que o regime jurídico da política fiscal no Brasil foi reformado na década de 1990 com o propósito de promover a agenda do ajuste fiscal e da sustentabilidade da dívida pública na gestão da política fiscal. Essa reforma implicou mudanças significativas em quatro âmbitos: prerrogativas fiscais foram centralizadas na União, em detrimento de estados e municípios; houve centralização do poder fiscal no Executivo, em relação ao Legislativo; foram instituídos limites legais à gestão da política fiscal, incluindo limitações com despesas com pessoal e com endividamento público; e foram criados novos mecanismos de transparência e prestação de contas da política fiscal. Ao contrário do que normalmente se argumenta na literatura, que enfatiza os fatores domésticos que resultaram na reforma do regime, esta pesquisa propõe uma interpretação que combina fatores domésticos com influências internacionais na explicação das determinantes da reforma. O último capítulo analisa os efeitos da implantação do novo regime jurídico para a política fiscal até o ano de 2014, os quais permitem perceber que, embora as regras e os princípios jurídicos tenham efetivamente reduzido a margem de manobra fiscal de estados e municípios, centralizado competências fiscais no Executivo e criado novos mecanismos de transparência e prestação de contas da política fiscal, é possível defender que ainda existe um considerável espaço de discricionariedade na definição e na gestão da política fiscal no âmbito do Poder Executivo federal. / This dissertation aims at analyzing the roles of law in fiscal policy in Brazil, from the study of what this research calls legal regime of fiscal policy. The legal regime of fiscal policy comprehends legal principles and rules that regulate the management of public expenditure and public debt. The research tries to combine an analysis of the functions of the legal regime for fiscal policy goals with a perspective on the role of law to their democratic legitimacy. It argues that the legal regime of fiscal policy in Brazil was reformed in the 1990s aiming at promoting the fiscal adjustment and public debt sustainability agenda. This reform provoked substantive changes in four different domains: fiscal policy decisions were concentrated in the Union, in comparison with states and municipalities; fiscal power was centralized in the Executive vis a vis the Legislative; fiscal rules establishing legal limits to fiscal policy management were implemented, including limits to public indebtedness and expenditures with payroll; new mechanisms of transparency and accountability were created. This research also advances an interpretation about the relationship between domestic elements and international influences that resulted in the legal reform, while the literature usually focuses on the narrative about the domestic elements. The last part of the dissertation analyzes the implementation of the new legal regime for fiscal policy up to 2014. The research claims that, although legal principles and rules reduced the room for maneuver for fiscal decisions by states and municipalities, centralized fiscal power in the Executive and created new mechanisms of transparency and accountability, it is possible to argue that there is still some discretion for the management of the fiscal policy in the federal Executive.

Embora alguns estudos tenham encontrado evidências acerca da eficácia da Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal (LRF) em reduzir as despesas estaduais e municipais, procurou-se neste trabalho, analisar os efeitos da lei sobre níveis mais desagregados de despesa. Partiu-se da hipótese de que, possivelmente, os componentes menos rígidos de despesa teriam sido mais afetados pela LRF. Dessa forma, as despesas foram classificadas em categorias e funções, abrangendo os municípios brasileiros no período entre 1998 e 2004. A segmentação por categorias seguiu uma estrutura contábil, enquanto a classificação por funções se referiu à quatro principais áreas de destinação das despesas: social, overhead, infra-estrutura e outras. Os dados obtidos foram provenientes da FINBRA, uma base de dados elaborada pela Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional. Utilizou-se também a base de dados do Tribunal Superior Eleitoral para a construção de algumas variáveis políticas. Os resultados das análises descritivas mostraram que os gastos mais rígidos cresceram mais do que a receita para o total de municípios, indicando um maior comprometimento do orçamento. Adicionalmente, foram encontradas evidências de que a LRF obteve sucesso em fazer os municípios cumprirem os limites relacionados a ela. Inclusive, estimou-se um modelo de variável categórica (Logit de efeitos fixos) com o intuito de analisar o impacto da LRF sobre a probabilidade de cumprimento do limite de gasto com pessoal (60% da Receita Corrente Líquida). Os resultados indicaram que a LRF afetou positivamente a probabilidade de respeitarem o limite. No entanto, os municípios que se encontravam dentro dos limites podem não ter sido afetados pela lei, pois permitiram que a despesa com pessoal crescesse mais do que a receita. Os resultados das estimações pelo método de Anderson-Hsiao para painéis dinâmicos mostraram que a LRF não surtiu efeito sobre gastos com pessoal e outras despesas correntes (mais rígidos). O investimento (menos rígido) foi a categoria mais prejudicada, pois sofreu forte redução devido à lei. Assim, a LRF reduziu a despesa total, mas em virtude da forte queda do investimento. Os resultado obtidos para as funções de despesa mostraram que o gasto com social sofreu uma pequena redução, enquanto a despesa com overhead um aumento. O gasto com infra-estrutura (menos rígido) foi o mais atingido, apresentando uma forte queda em virtude da lei, a qual acabou influenciando no resultado da despesa orçamentária. Portanto, as evidências encontradas neste trabalho confirmam a hipótese de que o ajuste promovido pela LRF se deu realmente sobre os componentes menos rígidos de despesa. / Although some studies have found evidences about the efficacy of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (FRL) in reducing state and municipal expenditures, it was intended to analyze the effects of the law on more disaggregated levels of expenditures in this work. The initial hypothesis was that more flexible expenditures components would have been more affected by the FRL. Thus, the expenditures were classified in categories and functions, considering the brazilian Municipal Districts in the period between 1998 and 2004. The repartition by categories followed an accounting structure, while the classification by functions referred to four main areas of expenditures destination: social, overhead, infrastructure and others. The data were obtained from FINBRA, a database elaborated by the National Treasury Office. The Electoral Supreme Court database was also utilized in the construction of political variables. The results of the descriptive analysis showed that less flexible expenditures increased more than the revenues, indicating a higher commitment of the budget. Further, it was found evidences that the FRL succeed in making the municipal districts accomplish the limits related to it. It was also estimated a model of categorical variable (Fixed effects Logit) that analyzes the impact of the FRL on the probability of accomplishing the personnel expenditure limit (60% of the Net Current Revenue). The results showed that the FRL had a positive effect on the probability of respecting the limit. Nevertheless, the municipal districts that were already respecting the limit may not have been affected by the law, since they let the personnel expenditure increase more than the revenue. The results of the estimations by Anderson-Hsiao?s dynamic panel data method indicated that the FRL didn?t have effect on personnel and other current expenditures (less flexible). The investment (more flexible) was the most damaged category, since it suffered a major reduction by the law. Thus, the FRL had a negative impact on total expenditure by making the investment decrease considerably. The results obtained for the expenditure functions showed that the social expenditure had a slight decrease, while the overhead?s had an increase. The infrastructure expenditure (more flexible) was the most affected, showing a major decrease caused by the law, which influenced the result of the total expenditure. Therefore, the evidence founded in this work confirms the hypothesis that the adjustment accomplished by the FRL indeed reached the more flexible expenditure components.

In my thesis I have dealt with the issue of Fiscal Responsibility in the EU, especially the position the EU Member States have on this issue. The first part defines the Budget responsibility and Fiscal policy at the level of the Czech Republic and level of European Union. There has been mainly described and analyzed the Stability and Growth Pact, and the Fiscal compact. The second part has been devoted to evaluation of individual member states and described how the legislative acts are used for effort to reach sustainable finances contributing to the overall generally maintain Responsible and Fiscal policy. At the end its summarized and compared the evolution of public debt and budget deficits and also characterized their independent Financial institution.

Embora alguns estudos tenham encontrado evidências acerca da eficácia da Lei de Responsabilidade Fiscal (LRF) em reduzir as despesas estaduais e municipais, procurou-se neste trabalho, analisar os efeitos da lei sobre níveis mais desagregados de despesa. Partiu-se da hipótese de que, possivelmente, os componentes menos rígidos de despesa teriam sido mais afetados pela LRF. Dessa forma, as despesas foram classificadas em categorias e funções, abrangendo os municípios brasileiros no período entre 1998 e 2004. A segmentação por categorias seguiu uma estrutura contábil, enquanto a classificação por funções se referiu à quatro principais áreas de destinação das despesas: social, overhead, infra-estrutura e outras. Os dados obtidos foram provenientes da FINBRA, uma base de dados elaborada pela Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional. Utilizou-se também a base de dados do Tribunal Superior Eleitoral para a construção de algumas variáveis políticas. Os resultados das análises descritivas mostraram que os gastos mais rígidos cresceram mais do que a receita para o total de municípios, indicando um maior comprometimento do orçamento. Adicionalmente, foram encontradas evidências de que a LRF obteve sucesso em fazer os municípios cumprirem os limites relacionados a ela. Inclusive, estimou-se um modelo de variável categórica (Logit de efeitos fixos) com o intuito de analisar o impacto da LRF sobre a probabilidade de cumprimento do limite de gasto com pessoal (60% da Receita Corrente Líquida). Os resultados indicaram que a LRF afetou positivamente a probabilidade de respeitarem o limite. No entanto, os municípios que se encontravam dentro dos limites podem não ter sido afetados pela lei, pois permitiram que a despesa com pessoal crescesse mais do que a receita. Os resultados das estimações pelo método de Anderson-Hsiao para painéis dinâmicos mostraram que a LRF não surtiu efeito sobre gastos com pessoal e outras despesas correntes (mais rígidos). O investimento (menos rígido) foi a categoria mais prejudicada, pois sofreu forte redução devido à lei. Assim, a LRF reduziu a despesa total, mas em virtude da forte queda do investimento. Os resultado obtidos para as funções de despesa mostraram que o gasto com social sofreu uma pequena redução, enquanto a despesa com overhead um aumento. O gasto com infra-estrutura (menos rígido) foi o mais atingido, apresentando uma forte queda em virtude da lei, a qual acabou influenciando no resultado da despesa orçamentária. Portanto, as evidências encontradas neste trabalho confirmam a hipótese de que o ajuste promovido pela LRF se deu realmente sobre os componentes menos rígidos de despesa. / Although some studies have found evidences about the efficacy of the Fiscal Responsibility Law (FRL) in reducing state and municipal expenditures, it was intended to analyze the effects of the law on more disaggregated levels of expenditures in this work. The initial hypothesis was that more flexible expenditures components would have been more affected by the FRL. Thus, the expenditures were classified in categories and functions, considering the brazilian Municipal Districts in the period between 1998 and 2004. The repartition by categories followed an accounting structure, while the classification by functions referred to four main areas of expenditures destination: social, overhead, infrastructure and others. The data were obtained from FINBRA, a database elaborated by the National Treasury Office. The Electoral Supreme Court database was also utilized in the construction of political variables. The results of the descriptive analysis showed that less flexible expenditures increased more than the revenues, indicating a higher commitment of the budget. Further, it was found evidences that the FRL succeed in making the municipal districts accomplish the limits related to it. It was also estimated a model of categorical variable (Fixed effects Logit) that analyzes the impact of the FRL on the probability of accomplishing the personnel expenditure limit (60% of the Net Current Revenue). The results showed that the FRL had a positive effect on the probability of respecting the limit. Nevertheless, the municipal districts that were already respecting the limit may not have been affected by the law, since they let the personnel expenditure increase more than the revenue. The results of the estimations by Anderson-Hsiao?s dynamic panel data method indicated that the FRL didn?t have effect on personnel and other current expenditures (less flexible). The investment (more flexible) was the most damaged category, since it suffered a major reduction by the law. Thus, the FRL had a negative impact on total expenditure by making the investment decrease considerably. The results obtained for the expenditure functions showed that the social expenditure had a slight decrease, while the overhead?s had an increase. The infrastructure expenditure (more flexible) was the most affected, showing a major decrease caused by the law, which influenced the result of the total expenditure. Therefore, the evidence founded in this work confirms the hypothesis that the adjustment accomplished by the FRL indeed reached the more flexible expenditure components.

A presente dissertação tem o objetivo de analisar os papéis do direito para a política fiscal no Brasil, a partir de um estudo sobre o que esta pesquisa chama de regime jurídico da política fiscal. Interpreta-se esse regime jurídico como o conjunto de princípios e regras que regulam a gestão do gasto e do endividamento públicos. A pesquisa busca combinar uma análise das funções do regime jurídico para objetivos de política fiscal com um estudo sobre o papel do direito para a própria legitimação social desses objetivos. Assim, argumenta-se que o regime jurídico da política fiscal no Brasil foi reformado na década de 1990 com o propósito de promover a agenda do ajuste fiscal e da sustentabilidade da dívida pública na gestão da política fiscal. Essa reforma implicou mudanças significativas em quatro âmbitos: prerrogativas fiscais foram centralizadas na União, em detrimento de estados e municípios; houve centralização do poder fiscal no Executivo, em relação ao Legislativo; foram instituídos limites legais à gestão da política fiscal, incluindo limitações com despesas com pessoal e com endividamento público; e foram criados novos mecanismos de transparência e prestação de contas da política fiscal. Ao contrário do que normalmente se argumenta na literatura, que enfatiza os fatores domésticos que resultaram na reforma do regime, esta pesquisa propõe uma interpretação que combina fatores domésticos com influências internacionais na explicação das determinantes da reforma. O último capítulo analisa os efeitos da implantação do novo regime jurídico para a política fiscal até o ano de 2014, os quais permitem perceber que, embora as regras e os princípios jurídicos tenham efetivamente reduzido a margem de manobra fiscal de estados e municípios, centralizado competências fiscais no Executivo e criado novos mecanismos de transparência e prestação de contas da política fiscal, é possível defender que ainda existe um considerável espaço de discricionariedade na definição e na gestão da política fiscal no âmbito do Poder Executivo federal. / This dissertation aims at analyzing the roles of law in fiscal policy in Brazil, from the study of what this research calls legal regime of fiscal policy. The legal regime of fiscal policy comprehends legal principles and rules that regulate the management of public expenditure and public debt. The research tries to combine an analysis of the functions of the legal regime for fiscal policy goals with a perspective on the role of law to their democratic legitimacy. It argues that the legal regime of fiscal policy in Brazil was reformed in the 1990s aiming at promoting the fiscal adjustment and public debt sustainability agenda. This reform provoked substantive changes in four different domains: fiscal policy decisions were concentrated in the Union, in comparison with states and municipalities; fiscal power was centralized in the Executive vis a vis the Legislative; fiscal rules establishing legal limits to fiscal policy management were implemented, including limits to public indebtedness and expenditures with payroll; new mechanisms of transparency and accountability were created. This research also advances an interpretation about the relationship between domestic elements and international influences that resulted in the legal reform, while the literature usually focuses on the narrative about the domestic elements. The last part of the dissertation analyzes the implementation of the new legal regime for fiscal policy up to 2014. The research claims that, although legal principles and rules reduced the room for maneuver for fiscal decisions by states and municipalities, centralized fiscal power in the Executive and created new mechanisms of transparency and accountability, it is possible to argue that there is still some discretion for the management of the fiscal policy in the federal Executive.

The widespread use of composite indices has often been motivated by their practicality to quantify qualitative data in an easy and intuitive way. At the same time, this approach has been challenged due to the subjective and partly ad hoc nature of computation, aggregation and weighting techniques as well as the handling of missing data. Partially ordered set (POSET) theory offers an alternative approach for summarizing qualitative data in terms of quantitative indices, which relies on a computation scheme that fully exploits the available information and does not require the subjective assignment of weights. The present paper makes the case for an increased use of POSET theory in the social sciences and provides a comparison of POSET indices and composite indices (from previous studies) measuring the 'stringency' of fiscal frameworks using data from the OECD Budget Practices and Procedures survey (2007/08). (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Unfunded public pension and Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) liabilities impose major threats to local fiscal sustainability, which increases governments' default risk and crowds out funding for essential local services. To close the funding gaps, localities may apply a wide range of fiscal instruments, including increasing taxes, fees, and user charges, issuing debt and bonds, obtaining grants and/or decreasing expenditures. This research compares the US local fiscal choice behavior in the context of the fiscal federalism framework. The goal is to identify the ideal mix of constitutional fiscal rules to preserve local fiscal sustainability. Not only should the rules aim to minimize local adverse fiscal behavior pre-crisis, which may include excessive spending, large accumulations of unfunded liabilities, and over-reliance on external grants, but also allow strong local fiscal adaptive capacity post-crisis. The findings help localities identify any effective and prudent fiscal options available to close their pension funding gaps and contribute to the overall sub-national fiscal institutional reforms. Theoretically, this research introduces a novel analytical framework pertaining to local fiscal sustainability by separating pre-crisis and post-crisis institutional analysis and by consolidating two historically viewed as two competing paradigms, public choice and public finance. I argue that the two approaches are complementary rather than contradictory since public choice theory sets up an institutional prerequisite for normative outcomes to be realized and prevents the occurrence of extreme circumstances. The ideal mix of formal fiscal rules, thus, should induce the balanced budget rule that applies to all budget items, stringent spending and debt limits, and institutionalized local tax authority and stable tax structure, but not tax limits. Tax limits are less effective in constraining government than spending and debt limits due to fiscal gimmicks. Moreover, stringent tax limits could significantly limit local governments' ability to bounce back on their own. This research also found that cities do apply different fiscal strategies to reduce exogenous shocks, given their unique fiscal institutions in place. Furthermore, cities with fewer institutional constraints exhibit a faster speed of adjustment. However, certain institutional variables, such as public union size and tax authority, might not have the same fiscal implications as predicted by the theory. Cities often manage to cut their short-term spending regardless of the size of their public unions. A broad range of tax authority does not imply greater local revenue-generating capacity. Own source revenue autonomy might be a better indicator of local fiscal adaptive capacity. / Doctor of Philosophy / Unfunded public pension and Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) liabilities impose major threats to local fiscal sustainability, which increases governments’ default risk and crowds out funding for essential local services. To close the funding gaps, localities may apply a wide range of fiscal instruments, including increasing taxes, fees, and user charges, issuing debt and bonds, obtaining grants and/or decreasing expenditures. This research compares the US local fiscal choice behavior in the context of the fiscal federalism framework. The goal is to identify the ideal mix of constitutional fiscal rules to preserve local fiscal sustainability. Not only should the rules aim to minimize local adverse fiscal behavior pre-crisis, which may include excessive spending, large accumulations of unfunded liabilities, and over-reliance on external grants, but also allow strong local fiscal adaptive capacity post-crisis. The findings help localities identify any effective and prudent fiscal options available to close their pension funding gaps and contribute to the overall sub-national fiscal institutional reforms. Theoretically, this research introduces a novel analytical framework pertaining to local fiscal sustainability by separating pre-crisis and post-crisis institutional analysis and by consolidating two historically viewed as two competing paradigms, public choice and public finance. I argue that the two approaches are complementary rather than contradictory since public choice theory sets up an institutional prerequisite for normative outcomes to be realized and prevents the occurrence of extreme circumstances. The ideal mix of formal fiscal rules, thus, should induce the balanced budget rule that applies to all budget items, stringent spending and debt limits, and institutionalized local tax authority and stable tax structure, but not tax limits. Tax limits are less effective in constraining government than spending and debt limits due to fiscal gimmicks. Moreover, stringent tax limits could significantly limit local governments’ ability to bounce back on their own. This research also found that cities do apply different fiscal strategies to reduce exogenous shocks, given their unique fiscal institutions in place. Furthermore, cities with fewer institutional constraints exhibit a faster speed of adjustment. However, certain institutional variables, such as public union size and tax authority, might not have the same fiscal implications as predicted by the theory. Cities often manage to cut their short-term spending regardless of the size of their public unions. A broad range of tax authority does not imply greater local revenue-generating capacity. Own source revenue autonomy might be a better indicator of local fiscal adaptive capacity.

[pt] Esta tese é composta por 3 capítulos. No primeiro capítulo mostro que quando um banco central não é totalmente apoiado financeiramente pelo tesouro e enfrenta uma restrição de solvência, um aumento no tamanho ou uma mudança na composição de seu balanço pode servir como um mecanismo de compromisso em um cenário de armadilha de liquidez. Em particular, quando a taxa de juros de curto prazo está em zero, operações de mercado aberto do banco central que envolvam compras de títulos de longo prazo podem ajudar a mitigar a deflação e recessão sob um equilíbrio de política discricionária. Usando um modelo simples com produto exógeno, mostramos que uma mudança no balanço do banco central, que aumenta seu tamanho e duração, incentiva o banco central a manter as taxas de juros baixas no futuro, a fim de evitar perdas e satisfazer a restrição de solvência, aproximando-se de sua política ótima de commitment. No segundo capítulo da tese, eu testo a validade do novo mecanismo desenvolvido no capítulo 1, incorporando um banco central financeiramente independente em um modelo DSGE de média escala baseado em Smets e Wouters (2007), e calibrando-o para replicar principais características da expansão do tamanho e composição do balanço do Federal Reserve no período pós-2008. Eu observo que os programas QE 2 e 3 geraram efeitos positivos na dinâmica da inflação, mas impacto modesto no hiato do produto. O terceiro capítulo da tese avalia as consequências em termos de bem-estar de regras fiscais simples em um modelo de um pequeno país exportador de commodities com uma parcela da população sem acesso ao mercado financeiro, onde a política fiscal assume a forma de transferências. Uma constatação principal é que as regras orçamentárias equilibradas para as receitas de commodities geralmente superam as regras fiscais mais sofisticadas, em que as receitas de commodities são salvas em um Fundo de Riqueza Soberana. Como os choques nos preços das commodities são tipicamente altamente persistentes, a renda atual das famílias está próxima de sua renda permanente, tornando as regras orçamentárias equilibradas próximas do ideal. / [en] This thesis is composed of 3 chapters. In the first chapter, It s shown that when a central bank is not fully financially backed by the treasury and faces a solvency constraint, an increase in the size or a change in the composition of its balance sheet (quantitative easing - QE) can serve as a commitment device in a liquidity trap scenario. In particular, when the short-term interest rate is at the zero lower bound, open market operations by the central bank that involve purchases of long-term bonds can help mitigate deflation and recession under a discretionary policy equilibrium. Using a simple endowment-economy model, it s shown that a change in the central bank balance sheet, which increases its size and duration, provides an incentive to the central bank to keep interest rates low in the future to avoid losses and satisfy its solvency constraints, approximating its full commitment policy. In the second chapter, the validity of the novel mechanism developed in chapter 1 is tested by incorporating a financiallyindependent central bank into a medium-scale DSGE model based on Smets and Wouters (2007), and calibrating it to replicate key features of the expansion of size and composition of the Federal Reserve s balance sheet in the post-2008 period. I find that the programs QE 2 and 3 generated positive effects on the dynamics of inflation, but mild effects on the output gap. The third chapter of the thesis evaluates the welfare consequences of simple fiscal rules in a model of a small commodity-exporting country with a share of financially constrained households, where fiscal policy takes the form of transfers. The main finding is that balanced budget rules for commodity revenues often outperform more sophisticated fiscal rules where commodity revenues are saved in a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Because commodity price shocks are typically highly persistent, the households current income is close to their permanent income, so commodity price shocks don t need smoothing, making simple balanced budget rules close to optimal.

The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the situation and development of the indebtedness of self-governing units with regard to the sustainability of individual budgets and also with regard to sustainability of consolidated public budgets in the Czech Republic, and therefore assess the conception of fiscal regulations for self-governing units in the Czech Republic. Based on the aim of the thesis a research question needed to be proposed: Are budgets of self-governing units one of the factors leading to the deterioration or improvement of sustainability of public finance? At first there are defined terms related to the indebtedness and debt regulation of local governments. Part of thesis is to analyze the indebtedness of all municipal and regions. The calculations of this work were divided into two parts: macro and micro point of view. On the basic of calculations it is possible to summarize that in 2014 the debt of municipalities was developing favorably in comparison to the debt of regions. The most problematic categories are municipalities with a population of 200 and cities with more than 100 001 people. The debt of self-governing units makes just under 7 % of the public debt. Based on the thesis, it is possible to reach the conclusion and answer the research question that budgets of the self-governing units are really one of the factors leading to the improvement of sustainability of public finance. Generally speaking, the public finance in the Czech Republic is considered as sustainable. The ratio of public debt to GDP is decreasing and is way under 60 %. The only possible problem is the debt of the regions. Their debt is constantly rising, however in comparison to the total public debt, it is still insignificant.

This diploma thesis deals with fiscal rules at the sub-national government level. The main goal is to make an analysis of the evolution and current situation of fiscal rules at the sub-national government level and to make the systematic classification of fiscal rules parameters and their choice in the EU member countries. The literary overview includes the introduction into the topic of fiscal rules and explains the connection between short-terms and long-terms goals of public finances and motives for the implementation of fiscal rules. There is also presented their typology. The next important part of this theme is the fiscal decentralization, which is also introduced here. This part is concluded by the overview of studies, which examine and evaluate the strength and effectiveness of fiscal rules at sub-national government level. The part of solutions and results includes the descriptive analysis of evolution and current situation of fiscal rules in EU member countries (EU-27) with the focus on local and regional sub-national government level. Then some selected parameters (share of sub-national public debt to GDP, fiscal decentralization, fiscal autonomy and (non)membership of EU member countries in the Eurozone) are compared with the number of implemented fiscal rules at the sub-national government level and in some cases with the fiscal rule strength index to prove or refute the set hypotheses. The hypotheses which are formulated in the methodology of this thesis are not proved by the correlation and by the main graphs. But there are some examples supporting these hypotheses.