There is growing evidence that macroeconomic policies are countercyclical
in industrial countries. While this seems obvious in the case of
monetary policies adopted by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central
Bank, and the Bank of Japan, among other OECD central banks, it
is less obvious in the case of fiscal policy. However recent papers stress the
countercyclical role of fiscal policies in Europe (Melitz 2000) and report that
the degree of countercyclicality has been strengthened even after the signing
of the Maastricht Treaty and the Stability and Growth Pact by European
Union members (Gall and Perotti 2002).