Fiscal Federalism: US History for Architects of Europe's Fiscal Union

This essay on US fiscal federalism builds on the established tradition. But unlike many papers that take current US features as a given, the authors tell us what present arrangements governing responsibility over public debt gradually emerged from, and why. By bringing in the historical dimension and the trial-and-error process that took place over more than two centuries, they help us understand the logic behind alternative arrangements and why the current one has in the end prevailed.