Sustainability of Public Finances Author:Jurgen Von Hagen, Roberto Perotti, Rolf Strauch A central tenet of the Maastricht Treaty is that a successful European Monetary Union requires sustainable public finances of its member states; yet there is no clear definition of sustainability. In this report, the authors develop a concept of sustainability focusing on the controllability of public finances. After reviewing the theoritical ... more »and empirical arguments for a disaggregate and institutions-oriented approach to correcting non-sustainable deficits, the authors propose a practical procedure to assess the sustainability of a country's public finances.« less