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CHAPTER1.PRACTICALDIMENSIONOFRESEARCHONPUBLICFINANCES
6.Countryselectioncriteriacasestudies
Theanalysisofthesituationofpublicfinancesandthemeasurementofconvergence
orfiscalandsocioeconomicdivergenceoftheEUcountrieswasinitiatedbytheobser-
vationofallEMUcountriesfromthemomentofthedecisiononqualifyingagiven
countrytotheeuroarea0Basedontheresultsofthisanalysis,fourcountrieswereselect-
edtheleast,medium-andstrongestintegratedwithGermany,asaleadingcountry
intheEMU0
Tocapturethesimilaritiesanddifferencesintheapproachtofiscalconsolidation
processesanditseffects,thefollowingcountrieswereselected:
Germany,
theUnitedKingdom,
Hungary,
Poland0
Inthisselection,itwasabouttheanalysisofsignificantlydifferentcountries0
ItwasassumedthattwocountriesoftheoldEuropeanUnionandtwocountriesthat
joinedin2004willbesubjectofobservation0Animportantpremiseforthisselection
wascontrastingfiscalpoliciesoftwolargeeconomies,withonecountrybelongingto
theeurozone(Germany),inwhichitplaysaleadingroleandtheother,acountrywith
autonomousmonetarypolicy(theUnitedKingdom)0Infact,thecountrypursuesan
autonomousmonetarypolicy,butbeingamemberoftheEuropeanUnionitwasobliged
tocomplywiththedisciplineofpublicfinances,fiscalrules,and,withallconsequences,
toimplementEUinstitutionsrequiredintheconceptofneweconomicgovernance0
Theauthorsassumedthatthereferencepointinanalysingchangesintheappro-
achtopublicfinancedisciplinewillbeGermany0Suchanassumptionwassupported
notonlybythefactthatthiscountryistheleadingeconomyofboththeEuropean
Unionandtheeuroarea,butalsothefactthattheGermaneconomyhasbeenseve-
relyhitbythefinancialcrisis0Itwasvisibleintheabsolutedropinoutput(in2009by
407%ofGDP)andasignificantdeteriorationinthestateofpublicfinances0However,
theGermaneconomyreturnedrelativelyquicklytothepathofgrowth:unemploy-
ment,whichdidnotincreaseintheyearsofcrisis,insubsequentyearssystematical-
lydecreasedandsurprisinglysoonsurplusappearedinthestatebudget0Therefore,
itwasconsideredinterestingtoanalysethecountry’sapproachtocrisisphenomena
andthewayithasovercomethem0Fromthepointofviewofdiscipliningpublicfi-
nances,Germanyisalsoanattractivecase,becauseinthefirsthalfofthe1990s,inthis
countrytherewereseriousdifficultiesinmaintainingbalanceinpublicfinances0After
temporaryhandlingthesituationinthesecondhalfofthe1990s,whichwasrelatedto
therequirementssetforthecandidatecountriesfortheeuroarea,Germany,asitwas
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