The so called budget margin under the expenditure ceilings was introduced to take care of the impact of
cyclical and other unanticipated developments affecting the budget. For the exception of the first year
with the ceilings, 1997, these margins have been very small also in the period of “good years” which was
not the intention. This could have hampered automatic stabilizers at the expenditure side.
References
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Heeringa, W. and Y.Lindh (2001), “Dutch Versus Swedish Budgetary Rules: A Comparison” in Fiscal
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