Fiscal consolidation with high growth: A policy simulation model for India.

In this paper a fiscal consolidation program for India has been presented based on a policy simulation model that enables us to examine the macroeconomic implications of alternative fiscal strategies, given certain assumptions about other macro policy choices and relevant exogenous factors. The model is then used to estimate the outcomes resulting from a possible strategy of fiscal consolidation in the base case. The exercise shows that it is possible to have fiscal consolidation while at the same time maintaining high GDP growth of around 8 percent or so. The strategy is to gradually bring down the revenue deficit to zero by 2014-15, while allowing a combined fiscal deficit for centre plus states of about 6 percent of GDP. This provides the space for substantial government capital expenditure, which translates to a significant public investment program. This in turn leads to high overall investment directly and indirectly, via the crowding in effect on private investment, which drives the high GDP growth. The exercise has also tested the robustness of this strategy under two alternative scenarios of higher and lower advanced country growth compared to the base case.Macroeconomic modelling, Policy simulation, Fiscal policy, India

Fiscal Consolidation with High Growth : A Policy Simulation Model for India

In this paper a fiscal consolidation program for India has been presented based on a policy simulation model that enables us to examine the macroeconomic implications of alternative fiscal strategies, given certain assumptions about other macro policy choices and relevant exogenous factors. The model is then used to estimate the outcomes resulting from a possible strategy of fiscal consolidation in the base case. The exercise shows that it is possible to have fiscal consolidation while at the same time maintaining high GDP growth of around 8% or so. The strategy is to gradually bring down the revenue deficit to zero by 2014-15, while allowing a combined fiscal deficit for centre plus states of about 6% of GDP. This provides the space for substantial government capital expenditure, which translates to a significant public investment program. This in turn leads to high overall investment directly and indirectly, via the crowding in effect on private investment, which drives the high GDP growth. The exercise has also tested the robustness of this strategy under two alternative scenarios of higher and lower advanced country growth compared to the base case.Macroeconomic Modelling, Policy Simulation, Fiscal Policy, India

Beliefs and attitudes of citizens in France towards smart surveillance and privacy

This document presents the results for France of a qualitative study undertaken as part of the SMART project – “Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies” (SMART; G.A. 261727). The analysis and results are based on a set of three focus group discussions comprising of 28 participants, which were held in order to examine the beliefs and attitudes of citizens towards smart surveillance and privacy. The focus group discussions were conducted in line with a discussion guide mainly consisting of different scenarios aimed at stimulating a discussion amongst the participants. While some scenarios dealt with surveillance in everyday contexts likely to be encountered by research participants, other scenarios were hypothetical in nature and their aim was to elicit the feelings, beliefs and attitudes of the participants in relation to dataveillance, the massive integration of data from different sources, and the “security versus privacy trade-off”.Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies (G.A. 267127). The project was co-financed by the European Union within the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013).peer-reviewe

Beliefs and attitudes of citizens in Austria towards smart surveillance and privacy

This document presents the Austrian results of a qualitative study undertaken as part of the SMART project - “Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies” (SMART; G.A. 261727). The analysis and results are based on a set of 3 focus group discussions comprising of 19 participants from different age groups, which were held in order to examine the awareness, understanding, beliefs and attitudes of ctitizens towards smart surveillance and privacy. The focus group discussions were conducted in line with a discussion guide consisting of different scenarios aimed at stimulating a discussion among participants. While some scenarios dealt with surveillance in everyday contexts likely to be encountered by the participants, other scenarios were hypothetical in nature and their aim was to elicit the participants’ feelings, beliefs and attitudes in relation to dataveillance, the massive integration of data from different sources, and the “security versus privacy” trade-off.Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies (G.A. 267127). The project was co-financed by the European Union within the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013).peer-reviewe