The chronic fiscal deficits of Finland and the continuous increase of the public debt-to-GDP ratio are likely to require further fiscal consolidation through cuts of public expenditure and increases of taxation. Although contractionary fiscal consolidation measures reduce the level of GDP in the short term, their effects may vary across categories of expenditure and taxation. The prolonged weakness of economic growth has further undermined the sustainability of the public finances of Finland, which in turn highlights the need for consolidation measures that minimise the losses of output. This literature review examines fiscal multipliers as support for the design of growth-friendly consolidation strategies. This analysis pays special attention to the impact of Finland’s economic structure on the size of fiscal multipliers, with the objective of producing policy-relevant evidence.
