{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-07-20","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Bram Gootjes","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"bgootjes@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Joseph Mawejje","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"jmawejje@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Dana Vorisek","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"dvorisek@worldbank.org"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Rules With Teeth? Evidence On The Impact Of Fiscal Rules On The Likelihood And Nature Of Fiscal Adjustments","idno":"RR_WLD_2026_583"},"data_statement":"Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, refer to the README file.","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"19.5 MP"},{"name":"Excel"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Rules With Teeth? Evidence On The Impact Of Fiscal Rules On The Likelihood And Nature Of Fiscal Adjustments","date":"2026-07","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_WLD_2026_583","zip_package":"RR_WLD_2026_583.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-07-20","abstract":"Do fiscal rules meaningfully constrain fiscal policy by prompting discrete fiscal adjustments? Does rule design shape how adjustment is carried out? We address these questions using a panel of 160 countries that includes 34 advanced economies and 126emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) over 1984\u20132022. We construct cyclically adjusted primary balances (CAPB) and identify fiscal adjustment episodes using Bai\u2013Perron structural break tests. The results show that fiscal adjustments are more frequent and longer in advanced economies, while in EMDEs they are more intense and often driven by revenue increases. The presence of fiscal rules is associated with a substantially higher probability of initiating fiscal adjustment, with the effect concentrated in frameworks that include deficit rules, feature broad public-sector coverage, and avoid carve-outs for priority spending. Fiscal rules are linked to both expenditure-led and revenue-led adjustments, but design features shape adjustment composition. Enforcement provisions and cyclically adjusted deficit targets are associated with a greater reliance on expenditure restraint, while escape clauses are associated with a weaker link between fiscal rules and revenue-led adjustment.The results therefore underscore that fit-for-purpose design\u2014rather than one-size-fits-all templates\u2014is central to the success of fiscal rules.","geographic_units":[{"name":"World","code":"WLD"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Fiscal Rules"},{"name":"Fiscal Adjustments"},{"name":"Fiscal Consolidation"},{"name":"Fiscal Sustainability"}],"topics":[{"id":"E62","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Fiscal Policy \u2022 Modern Monetary Theory","parent_id":"E6"},{"id":" H60","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"General","parent_id":"H6"},{"id":" H61","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Budget \u2022 Budget Systems","parent_id":"H6"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Rules With Teeth? Evidence On The Impact Of Fiscal Rules On The Likelihood And Nature Of Fiscal Adjustments"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"MIT License","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/mit"},{"name":"World Bank IGO Rider","uri":"https:\/\/github.com\/worldbank\/metadata-editor\/blob\/main\/WB-IGO-RIDER.md"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Bram Gootjes","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"bgootjes@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"datasets":[{"name":"World Bank Prospects Group country classifications","access_type":"Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners\/managers. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: World Bank Prospects Group. This is an in-house classification list compiled by the Prospects Group team and used across all Prospects Group publications, most notably the Global Economic Prospects flagship reports. The list is not officially deposited in a public repository and is frequently updated. It can be reconstructed manually from any flagship report, but the specific version used in this paper is available upon request from the corresponding author.\nAccess Date: October 2025. \nFile location: \"Data\\Database\\Copy of 2025_Country Classifications_20251029.xlsx\"","license":"Custom license","citation":"Gootjes, Bram, Joseph Mawejje, and Dana Vorisek. 2026. \"World Bank Prospects Group Country Classifications\" [dataset]. Authors' compilation. World Bank Prospects Group. Available upon request from corresponding author."},{"name":"World Development Indicators","uri":"https:\/\/databank.worldbank.org\/source\/world-development-indicators","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: World Bank.\nIndicators used: Use of IMF credit (DOD, current US$) (DT.DOD.DIMF.CD).\nAccess date: Data downloaded by the code on July 2, 2026.\nFile location: \"Processed\\imf_credit.dta\"","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)","citation":"World Bank. 2025. \"World Development Indicators\" [dataset]. World Bank DataBank. https:\/\/databank.worldbank.org\/source\/world-development-indicators. Accessed November 2025.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/ext\/en\/legal\/terms-conditions"},{"name":"International Monetary Fund (IMF) Fiscal Rules Dataset","uri":"https:\/\/www.imf.org\/en\/topics\/fiscal-policies\/fiscal-rules-dataset","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF). \nAccess date: September 2025.\nFile location: \"Data\\Database\\Publication - IMF FAD Fiscal Rules Dataset 1985-2024 Update.xlsx\"","license":"Custom License","citation":"Alonso, Virginia, Clara Arroyo, Ozlem Aydin, Vybhavi Balasundharam, Hamid R. Davoodi, Gabriel Hegab, W. Raphael Lam, Anh Nguyen, Natalia Salazar Ferro, Galen Sher, Alexandra Solovyeva, and Nino Tchelishvili. 2025. \"Fiscal Rules Dataset: 1985-2024\" International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.imf.org\/en\/about\/copyright-and-terms"},{"name":"International Monetary Fund (IMF) Fiscal Councils Dataset","uri":"https:\/\/www.imf.org\/en\/data\/fiscal\/fiscal-council-dataset","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF). \nAccess date: September 2025.\nFile location: \"Data\\Database\\IMF_Fiscal_Council_Dataset.xlsx\"","license":"Custom License","citation":"Alonso, Virginia, Clara Arroyo, Ozlem Aydin, Vybhavi Balasundharam, Hamid R. Davoodi, Gabriel Hegab, W. Raphael Lam, Anh Nguyen, Natalia Salazar Ferro, Galen Sher, Alexandra Solovyeva, and Nino Tchelishvili. 2025. \"Fiscal Councils Dataset: The 2024 Update\", International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.imf.org\/en\/about\/copyright-and-terms"},{"name":"World Economic Outlook Database","uri":"https:\/\/data.imf.org\/en\/datasets\/IMF.RES:WEO","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF). \nAccess date: October 2025. \nFile location: \"Data\\Database\\WEOOct2025all.xlsx\"","license":"Custom License","citation":"International Monetary Fund (IMF). 2025. \"World Economic Outlook Database\" [dataset]. https:\/\/data.imf.org\/en\/datasets\/IMF.RES:WEO. Accessed October 2025.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.imf.org\/en\/about\/copyright-and-terms"},{"name":"Global Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) Dataset","uri":"https:\/\/globalswf.com\/","access_type":"Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners\/managers. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: Global Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF). \nAccess Date: December 2024. \nFile location: \"Data\\Database\\globalSWF_clean.xlsx\"","license":"Custom license","citation":"Global SWF. 2024. \"Global SWF\" [database]. Global SWF, Singapore. https:\/\/globalswf.com. Accessed December 2024."},{"name":"The International Country Risk Guide","uri":"https:\/\/www.prsgroup.com\/explore-our-products\/icrg\/","access_type":"Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners\/managers. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: The PRS Group. \nAccess date: February 2022.\nFile location: \"Data\\Database\\ICRG_ANNUAL_Feb_21_2022.dta\" ","license":"Custom license","citation":"The PRS Group. 2022. \"The International Country Risk Guide\" [dataset]. https:\/\/www.prsgroup.com\/explore-our-products\/icrg\/. Accessed February 2022.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.prsgroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Disclaim.pdf"},{"name":"Exchange Arrangements Entering the 21st Century: Which Anchor Will Hold?","uri":"https:\/\/www.ilzetzki.com\/irr-data","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: Ilzetki, Reinhardt, and Rogoff (2019). \nAccess Date: October 2025.\nFile location: \"Data\\Database\\Exchange_Rate_Regimes.xlsx\" ","license":"Custom license","citation":"Ilzetki, Reinhardt, and Rogoff. 2019. \"Exchange Arrangements Entering the 21st Century: Which Anchor Will Hold?\" [dataset]. https:\/\/rogoff.scholars.harvard.edu\/publications\/exchange-rate-arrangement-21st-century-which-anchor-currency-will-hold."},{"name":"Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (AREAER) Dataset","uri":"https:\/\/www.elibrary-areaer.imf.org\/Pages\/Home.aspx","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","note":"Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF). \nAccess Date: October 2025. \nFile location: \"Data\\Database\\Country-characteristics-stata.dta\" ","license":"Custom License","citation":"International Monetary Fund. 2024. \"Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions (AREAER)\" [dataset]. https:\/\/www.elibrary-areaer.imf.org\/Pages\/Home.aspx. Accessed October 2025.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.imf.org\/en\/about\/copyright-and-terms"}],"reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:\n1. **Secure Access to Data:** Access the datasets not included in the package. See the Datasets section for more details.\n2. **Run the Package:**\n  - Update the working directory of the do-file `Master script.do`, and run it.\n\nSince not all the original data can be redistributed, the package includes the outputs produced by the authors, which can be used to review the results presented in the paper.","technology_requirements":"Runtime: ~2 hours.","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6226R CPU @ 2.90GHz\n\u2022 Memory available: 32.0 GB"},"datacite":{"creators":[{"givenName":"Bram","familyName":"Gootjes","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ae7jd04","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Joseph","familyName":"Mawejje","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ae7jd04","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Dana","familyName":"Vorisek","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ae7jd04","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]}],"titles":[{"lang":"en","title":"Reproducibility package for Rules With Teeth? Evidence On The Impact Of Fiscal Rules On The Likelihood And Nature Of Fiscal Adjustments"},{"title":"RR_WLD_2026_583","titleType":"Other"}],"publisher":"World Bank","publicationYear":"2026","types":{"resourceType":"Reproducibility package","resourceTypeGeneral":"Other"},"url":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/index.php\/catalog\/study\/RR_WLD_2026_583","language":"en"},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"},{"tag":"Restricted Data"}],"schematype":"script"}