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Medium‐term expenditure frameworks: Credible instrument or mirage?
Author(s) -
Raudla Ringa,
Douglas James W.,
MacCarthaigh Muiris
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
public budgeting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1540-5850
pISSN - 0275-1100
DOI - 10.1111/pbaf.12316
Subject(s) - medium term , term (time) , elite , economics , fiscal policy , macroeconomics , public economics , political science , politics , physics , quantum mechanics , law
Medium‐term expenditure frameworks (MTEFs) are typically viewed as instruments to expand budget horizons beyond one year and to limit spending growth over the medium term (usually three to five years). In response to the fiscal crisis and EU requirements, many countries in Europe have adopted MTEFs over the past decade. We use elite interviews to examine whether the formal enactment of such frameworks has led to changes in actual budget practices in Finland, Austria, Portugal, and Ireland. Our analysis shows that the newly adopted MTEFs have not acted as binding constraints on fiscal policy.