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The paper evaluates the size of the cyclical and structural components of the fiscal deficit of the Republic of Serbia for the period from the first quarter of 2002 to the second quarter of 2014. The method of the European Central Bank was used, where it is assumed that cyclically sensitive elements of state are budget income tax, profit tax, value added tax on the value, excises, social security contributions and unemployment benefits. Elasticity of cyclically sensitive elements relative to their macroeconomic bases are estimated using the VEC model with error correction. The results suggest that automatic stabilizers generally played a more prominent role than consistent countercyclical discretionary fiscal policy, which means that the discretionary measures were late or were not well targeted.

Balanced budget requirements (BBRs) affect all aspects of financial operations.Previous studies relied on characterizations that highlight a constitutional-statutory distinction.Hou and Smith (Public Budgeting & Finance 26(3): 22-45, 2006) instead propose a political-technical construct. This article uses probit estimation, six measures of balance, and long panels to test which framework offers more explanatory power. The findings suggest that BBRs matter to varying degrees. Technical requirements exert bigger effects than political ones, the effects are more obvious on narrower than broader measures of balance and in the later phases of the budget cycle, and the political-technical construct offers more explanatory power than the constitutional-statutory distinction.

The research on the economic effects of fiscal adjustments are reexamined. Not all fiscal consolidations are contractionary: some are and some are not. In particular, it is emphasized that the composition of the adjustment matters. Evidence is confirmed and extended that fiscal corrections relying mostly on spending cuts that are concentrated on government wages and transfers tend to be expansionary, whereas those relying mainly on tax increases are contractionary. Using data drawn from a sample of 19 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, no evidence is found of a systematic electoral penalty or fall in popularity for governments that follow restrained fiscal policies.

This essay is a theoretical exploration of a new budgetary system to cope with fiscal uncertainty and instability. It examines policies requiring positive year-end balances and infers that annual budget cycles lead to a mismatch between the budget cycle and the continuity of public service provision. The author considers a multiyear perspective on budgeting as a potential solution, with countercyclical fiscal reserves to help ensure stability during fluctuating economic conditions. By adopting budget stabilization funds and keeping sufficient reserves, states can better maintain trend-level public services during recessions. Panel data analysis provides empirical evidence that such funds helped stabilize state general expenditures during downturns. The adoption of countercyclical fiscal policy and budget stabilization funds is a step toward a longer-term perspective on budgeting, thus promoting fiscal stability over the economic cycle.

Faced with the global financial crisis and an increasingly worrisome sovereign-debt crisis, the Eurozone countries are rethinking their fiscal governance. This paper discusses the different reforms and subsequent fiscal rules which have emerged since 2011. It assesses the impact of fiscal rules on the output gap and inflation rate of three representative countries of the Eurozone. By means of a counterfactual, the rules based upon their macroeconomic outcomes are ranked. The new debt reduction rule would certainly lead to lower debt levels, hence to larger fiscal margins for maneuver in the future but, in steep contrast with the golden rule of public finance, it would be very costly to implement as the requirement to enforce a substantial consolidation in the short run would be considerably higher than that of a golden rule and would worsen the output gap and inflation rate. The cap on the cyclically adjusted deficit also leads to unfavorable outcomes whereas the Maastricht status quo, limiting overall public deficit, would be a \"second best\" behind the golden rule of public finance.

Rehabilitation training is believed to be beneficial to patients with stroke, but its molecular mechanism is still unclear. Rat models of cerebral ischemic stroke were established by middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion, and then received treadmill training of different intensities, twice a day for 30 minutes for 1 week. Low-intensity training was conducted at 5 m/min, with a 10-minute running, 10-minute rest, and 10-minute running cycle. In the moderate-intensity training, the intensity gradually increased from 5 m/min to 10 m/min in 5 minutes, with the same rest cycle as above. In high-intensity training, the intensity gradually increased from 5 m/min to 25 m/min in 5 minutes, with the same rest cycle as above. The Bederson scale was used to evaluate the improvement of motor function. Infarct volume was detected using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling staining was applied to detect the apoptosis of nerve cells in brain tissue. Western blot assay was employed to analyze the activation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)/protein kinase A and Akt/glycogen synthase kinase-3β signaling pathways in rat brain tissue. All training intensities reduced the neurological deficit score, infarct volume, and apoptosis in nerve cells in brain tissue of stroke rats. Training intensities activated the cAMP/protein kinase A and Akt/glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta signaling pathways. This activation was more obvious with higher training intensities. These changes were reversed by intracerebroventricular injection of protein kinase A inhibitor Rp-cAMP. Our findings indicate that the neuroprotective effect of rehabilitation training is achieved via activation of the cAMP/protein kinase A and Akt/glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta signaling pathways. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Animal Experimentation in Shanghai No. 8 People's Hospital, China.

Economists, policy-makers, and the media often argue that the Maastricht Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact make it difficult for governments of EMU countries to stabilize their economies with appropriate fiscal policy and to provide adequate public investment. Our empirical analysis offers little support to this view. Discretionary budget deficits have actually become more counter-cyclical in EMU countries after the Maastricht Treaty, as well as in the other EU and non-EU industrialized countries we study. And while public investment has declined recently in EMU countries, a similar tendency is apparent in other countries and started well before the Maastricht Treaty was signed.

The issue of fiscal policy in a monetary union has once again become very topical, as the EU deadline for EMU approaches and as countries take seriously the need to meet the Maastricht fiscal criteria - but are by no means certain to succeed in attaining them by the time a first decision on participation is made. Moreover, Germany has thrown open the issue of whether the fiscal criteria are adequate to ensure the needed discipline, and has proposed more ambitious targets and monetary sanctions for non-compliance with the 3% deficit ceiling. The following topics are addressed: 1. the debt and deficit criteria as conditions for qualifying for EMU membership, 2. the need for fiscal discipline and policy coordination in EMU, and the role of the criteria in achieving them, and 3. the desirability of, and prospects for, creating a supranational fiscal authority in the EU to accompany monetary union.

Using a panel of 21 OECD countries and 40 years of annual data, we find that countries with similar government budget positions tend to have business cycles that fluctuate more closely. That is, fiscal convergence (in the form of persistently similar ratios of government surplus/deficit to GDP) is systematically associated with more synchronized business cycles. We also find evidence that reduced fiscal deficits increase business cycle synchronization. The Maastricht \"convergence criteria,\" used to determine eligibility for EMU, encouraged fiscal convergence and deficit reduction. They may thus have indirectly moved Europe closer to an Optimum currency area, by reducing countries' abilities to create idiosyncratic fiscal shocks. Our empirical results are economically and statistically significant, and robust.