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Therefore,theybecomeapotentialchannelwherebyfinancial
problemsofthepublicsector,ifany,aretransferredontothe
privateone.Fiscalstabilityisthusapreconditionforthebroadly
termedfinancialstabilityofthestate.
Asovereigndefaultleadstoadeclineofastate’sreliabilityinthe
internationalarenaandserioussocio-economicperturbations.
ThelatteraremanifestedinadropinGDP
,ariseininationand
unemployment,ahighcrimerate,acollapseofthehealthcare
system,andaparalysedbankingsystem.Fiscalstabilityshould,
thus,beregardedasapublicgood,theimportanceofwhichlies
inthefactthatitconditionssustainablesocio-economicdevel-
opment,athingwellworthparticularprotection.
1020Rulesoffiscalpolicy
102010Theimportanceoffiscalpolicyrules
Inherentinmoderndemocraciesarenumerouspoliticaland
institutionalfactorsduetowhichpolicy,aspursuedbythe
government,doesnotapproximatetopublicutilitymaximisa-
tion.Amajorityofpoliticalpartiesattemptstoattractevernew
groupsofconstituents,providingthemwithaccesstonewbene-
fitsatafractionofthetotalprice.Consequently,theyassumethe
roleofso-calledHpoliticalentrepreneurs”10.Attitudeslikethisare
basedonalackofprivateco-responsibilityforthestateofpub-
licfinancesonthepartofindividualcitizens.Atthesametime,
anasymmetryofinformationmakestheminsumcientlyaware
oftheexistenceandroleoflong-termbudgetaryconstraints.As
aresult,citizensdevelopmisperceptionsastotheavailablevari-
antsofdemocraticchoice.Inotherwords,theysuccumbtowhat
istermedHfiscalillusion”
.
Theabovecircumstancesmakeitreasonabletodevelopinstitu-
tionalsolutionsthatwouldsafeguardtheinterestsofthecitizens
ofaspecificcountryagainsttheconsequencesofanexcessively
laxfiscalpolicy.Thesolutions-abroadandinternallyhighly
dińerentiatedgroupofmeasures-arejointlyreferredtoasthe
Hrulesoffiscalpolicy”
.Theiroverallobjectiveistocurbpoliticians’
10A.Alesina,R.Perotti,ThePoliticalEconomy…,p.14.
CHAPTER1.FISCALSTABILITY
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