Fiscal discipline and competitiveness in newly industrialised economies: lessons from the Nordics model

摘要

This paper assesses selected fiscal and competitiveness issues in the newly industrialised economies (NIEs) of Hong Kong, Singapore, (South) Korea and Taiwan since the Asian financial crisis. The NIEs have been globally competitive and successful in maintaining a high degree of fiscal discipline up until the global financial crisis. Despite the temporary worsening of their fiscal balances due to the cyclical downturn, most of the NIEs have bounced back without apparent long-lasting negative repercussions. The paper also undertakes fiscal sustainability computations for the NIEs to assess their fiscal space and also discusses the new Nordics welfare model.