As countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic, they are confronted with an even more challenging debt crisis. Xavier Debrun argues in the foreword that in deciding where we go from here that there is no longer a consensus regarding the optimum design and enforcement of fiscal rules. Rather we must address a series of questions and challenges to the conventional wisdom. This readings book provides an opportunity for scholars to explore these questions from an international perspective, with reference to European countries, and emerging nations as well as the United States.

Contributions by: Fredrik Ng Andersson, Charles Paul Blahous, James C. Capretta, Kurt Couchman, Xavier Debrun, Vera Z. Eichenauer, Lars P. Feld, Pablo Guidotti, Steve H. Hanke, Lars Jonung, John Merrifield, Norbert J. Michel, Carlos Newland, Emilio Ocampo, Barry Poulson, Wolf Heinrich Reuter, Thomas R. Saving, Jan-Egbert Sturm