Financial and Fiscal Policies Crises and New Realities

What started as a sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States in 2007 snowballed into global recession and later transformed into an economic crisis, if not a sociopolitical one. This was followed by the euro area debt crisis. While the period 2014–9 was marked by a return to the growth trajectory, albeit of the new normal variety, various headwinds affected such growth, including the United States–China trade war and the initially ambiguous Brexit signals culminating in the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. In 2020, the world witnessed the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and a return to more aggressive fiscal and monetary stimuli. In this revised edition of Financial and Fiscal Policies, the authors highlight the challenges posed by the global crisis and analyse the interactions between monetary, fiscal, and financial policies, exploring cross-country experiences, especially the economics of the euro area and India. Focusing on public debt management, sovereign debt restructuring, taxation, and financial sector and sub-national finance regulation, this book offers an understanding of future institutional arrangements.

Y. V. Reddy served as the Chairman of the Fourteenth Finance Commission of India. During September 2003–September 2008, he was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Prior to being appointed as Governor, RBI, he served as Executive Director, International Monetary Fund; Secretary, Government of India; and Principal Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh. He has been a member of the United Nation's Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System. He was also on the Advisory Board of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET). On 17 July 2008, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics. In 2010, he was awarded India's second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan. Partha Ray is currently Director, National Institute of Bank Management, Pune. Previously, he was Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. During 2007–11, he was Advisor to the Executive Director (India) at the International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C. He worked in the specialist cadre of economists in the Reserve Bank of India's Economic Research Department during 1989–2006 in various capacities; his last held position was Director, Department of Economic and Policy Research, RBI. During 1985–9, he taught economics in Kolkata. Educated in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Oxford, he has written extensively on issues related to monetary policy, banking, and finance. Pinaki Chakraborty is Vice-Chairman, Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur, and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi. Prior to this, he was Director and Professor, NIPFP, New Delhi, and Economic Advisor to the Fourteenth Finance Commission of India.