Proceedings from the ECFIN Workshop "The budgetary implications of structural reforms" - Brussels, 2 December 2005

The analytical approaches differ across the papers, as well as the datasets employed. This poses an
issue in deriving across-the-board conclusions. Nevertheless, a tentative summary of the main
common findings can be made as follows. First, many reforms imply considerable potential long-
term gains for public finances. However, the size of the impact depends crucially on the design of
the reform and the overall economic environment. Second, although the existence of short-term
costs of long-term beneficial reforms cannot be easily dismissed, the magnitude of the short-term
budgetary impact varies considerably depending not only on which sector of the economy is
reformed (e.g., labour market reforms versus pension reforms) but also on the specific design of
the reform (e.g., parametric pension reforms versus systemic reforms introducing mandatory
funded schemes recorded outside government). Third, the impact of the budgetary situation and
the fiscal stance on the likelihood of structural reforms is not clear-cut. The evidence seems
consistent with a possible trade-off between fiscal consolidation and labour market reforms, but
such trade off is not visible for other type of reforms (product market reforms, financial market
reforms, pension reforms).

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