What are Fiscal Rules? A fiscal rule imposes a long-lasting constraint on fiscal policy through numerical limits on budgetary aggregates. Fiscal rules typically aim at correcting deficit bias and containing pressures to overspend, particularly in good times, so as to ensure fiscal responsibility and debt sustainability. The dataset focuses on de-jure arrangements and not to what degree rules have been adhered in practice.
The Fiscal Rules dataset provides systematic information on the use and design of fiscal rules covering national and supranational fiscal rules in 106 countries from 1985 to 2021. The dataset covers four types of rules: budget balance rules (BBR), debt rules (DR), expenditure rules (ER), and revenue rules (RR), applying to the central or general government or the public sector. The dataset presents details on various characteristics of rules, such as their legal basis, coverage, escape clauses, stabilization properties, as well as enforcement procedures, and takes stock of key supporting features that are in place, including independent monitoring bodies and fiscal responsibility laws. It builds on the previous 2015 version prepared by Lledó, Yoon, Fang, Mbaye, and Kim (2017).
The Technical Manual "Fiscal Rules at a Glance: An Update 1985-2021” by Hamid Davoodi, Paul Elger, Alexandra Fotiou, Daniel Garcia-Macia, Andresa Lagerborg, W. Raphael Lam, and Sharanya Pillai (2022) provides the list and definition of variables included in the dataset.
Suggested citation: Davoodi, Hamid, Paul Elger, Alexandra Fotiou, Daniel Garcia-Macia, Andresa Lagerborg, Raphael Lam, and Sharanya Pillai. 2022. "Fiscal Rules Dataset: 1985-2021", International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C.
What are Fiscal Councils? Fiscal councils are often non-partisan, technical bodies entrusted as a public finance watchdog to strengthen credibility of fiscal policies with variety of mandates. In this dataset, fiscal council is defined as a permanent agency with a statutory or executive mandate to assess publicly and independently from partisan influence government's fiscal policies, plans and performance against macroeconomic objectives related to the long-term sustainability of public finances, short-medium-term macroeconomic stability, and other official objectives (IMF 2013). The dataset focuses on the de jure arrangements and not to what degree those arrangements have been adhered to in practice.
The Fiscal Council Dataset describes key features of 51 institutions in 49 countries that are identified as fiscal councils across the IMF membership as of 2021. The 2021 Update Fiscal Council dataset builds on the previous 2016 version prepared by Debrun, Zhang, and Lledó (2017). The current dataset reflects the latest developments (including those observed during the pandemic), broadens the country coverage, and enhances data quality. The dataset includes general information such as the official name and acronym of the council and the date of creation or major reforms, the main features of the council's remit, their specific tasks and instruments to influence the conduct of fiscal policy as well as key institutional characteristics such as the existence of formal guarantees of independence, accountability requirements, and human resources.
The Technical Manual "The Fiscal Council Dataset: The 2021 Update" by Hamid Davoodi, Paul Elger, Alexandra Fotiou, Daniel Garcia-Macia, Andresa Lagerborg, Raphael Lam, and Sharanya Pillai (2022) provides the list and definition of variables included in the dataset.
Suggested citation: Davoodi, Hamid, Paul Elger, Alexandra Fotiou, Daniel Garcia-Macia, Andresa Lagerborg, Raphael Lam, and Sharanya Pillai. 2022. "Fiscal Council Dataset: The 2021 Update", International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C.
Contact: The datasets are maintained by the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department. It is an ongoing project and we welcome comments on the data, including suggestions to enhance coverage. Please send your queries or comments to IMFFISCALRULES@imf.org.
