The Impact of Fiscal Rules on Changing the Structure of Public Expenditure in the European Union

Abstract

Theoretical background: The global economic crisis which started in 2007–2008 affected many countries and transformed into the phases of the crisis in the financial, economic and public finance markets. Some effects have been measured to this day. Tools that could predict the phenomenon of the coming crisis in the future, mitigate its effects on the economy, as well as those that affect the sustainability of public finances include, among others, fiscal rules. Fiscal rules are an instrument serving to discipline the implemented fiscal policy and aimed at ensuring the balance of public finances over a long period of time. Applied fiscal rules may take the form of numerical rules or procedural rules. Fiscal rules (especially procedural rules) are also aimed at strengthening the degree of transparency of public finances and improving management. Currently, the commonly used tool for determining and assessing the quality of national fiscal rules used in the EU Member States is the index of fiscal rules, defined and used by the European Commission.

Purpose of the article: Assessment of the impact of the applied fiscal rules in the European Union countries on the structure of public expenditure.

Research methods: Theoretical and empirical (econometric) analyses of the variables examined, such as values of the index of fiscal rules and the structure of public expenditure in accordance with the COFOG classification in individual Member States in 2001–2017.

Main findings: The conducted analyses showed that the fiscal rules applied by the governments of individual EU Member States have a direct impact on the structure of state expenditure.