Real GDP growth
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
cuts in social contrib. ^^^“baseline
unchanged real govt. expend. — — — unchanged struct. bal.
Figure 10. Simulated impact of a reduction of the NAIRU in a large euro country (France) under alterative fiscal
assumptions
Inflation
Output GAP
Unemployment rate
2.5
2.4
2.3
2.2
2.1
2
1.9
1.8
1.7
1.6
1.5
Potential output growth
Structural fiscal balance (% of GDP)
Fiscal balance (% of GDP)
Net government debt (% of GDP)
Note: The Nairu is assumed to fall progressively by 1.5 percentage points in the first three years of the simulation.
Nominal exchange rate kept unchanged relative to baseline. Real interest rates at the euro level are maintained
unchanged relative to baseline.
55. The econometric exercise in this paper provides additional evidence that the budgetary cost of
structural reform has been rather limited, whereas the longer-term benefits are significant. Probably nobody
would contest this general finding, but it is useful to be able to put some numbers on it. They broadly
concur with similar findings by Deroose and Turrini (2005), although they focus on the fiscal position
rather than on public expenditure. Obviously these findings are ex post and they may not apply to the
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