Fiscal Policy and Regional Business Cycles in Poland

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the adequacy of discretionary fiscal policy, implemented at the national level, on the course of regional business fluctuations in Poland. Research is conducted as follows: identification of regional business cycles, identification of national fiscal policy as restrictive or expansive, and comparison of fiscal policy adequacy and phases of regional business cycles. In order to separate a cyclical factor from the empirical data, the Christiano-Fitzgerald asymmetrical filter was exploited. The character of discretional fiscal policy was evaluated on the basis of cyclically adjusted primary balance, as well as positive or negative output gap. The empirical results show that fiscal policy is not always cyclically appropriate for all 16 Polish regions.mThe reason for this is divergence among Polish regions both in the matter of regional business cycle morphology, and in the aspect of phase shifts.