Fiscal politics / Vitor Gaspar, Sanjeev Gupta, and Carlos Mulas-Granados -- Governments and promised fiscal consolidations: do they mean what they say? / Sanjeev Gupta, Jôo Tovar Jalles, Carlos Mulas-Granados, and Michela Schena -- Fiscal policy over the election cycle in low-income countries / Christian Ebeke and Dilan Öl̇er -- Economic and political determinants of tax policies in oecd countries / Mark Hallerberg and Jürgen von Hagen -- Now or later? The political economy of public investment in democracies / Sanjeev Gupta, Estelle X. Liu, and Carlos Mulas-Granados -- Do elections affect the wage bill? / Yehenew Endegnanew, Mauricio Soto, and Genevïve Verdier -- Energy subsidies and public social spending: theory and evidence / Christian Ebeke and Constant Lonkeng Ngouana -- It's politics, stupid! Political constraints determine governments' reactions to the great recession / Fabian Gunzinger and Jan-Egbert Sturm -- Fragmented politics and public debt / Ernesto Crivelli, Sanjeev Gupta, Carlos Mulas-Granados, and Carolina Correa-Caro -- Political institutions, state building, and tax capacity: crossing the tipping point / Vitor Gaspar, Laura Jaramillo, and Philippe Wingender -- Fiscal discipline and exchange rates: does politics matter? / Jôo Tovar Jalles, Carlos Mulas-Granados, and Još Tavares -- Expenditure rules: effective tools for sound fiscal policy? / Till Cordes, Tidiane Kinda, Priscilla Muthoora, and Anke Weber -- Fiscal rules to tame the political budget cycle: evidence from Italian municipalities / Andrea Bonfatti and Lorenzo Forni -- On the determinants of fiscal noncompliance: an empirical analysis of Spanish regions / Mar Delgado-Ťllez, Victor D. Lled̤, and Javier J. P̌rez -- Budget institutions in low-income countries / Sanjeev Gupta, Sami Yl̃outinen, Brian Olden, Holger van Eden, Teresa Curristine, Tom Josephs, Eliko Pedastsaar, and Johann Seiwald -- Fiscal watchdogs and sound fiscal policy: is the barking loud enough to tame politicians? / Xavier Debrun, Marc Ǧrard, and Jason Harris -- The making of a continental financial system: lessons for Europe from early American history / Vitor Gaspar -- Fiscal politics in the euro area / Luc Eyraud, Vitor Gaspar, and Tigran Poghosyan -- IMF conditionality and revenue performance / Ernesto Crivelli and Sanjeev Gupta.

Two main themes of the book are that (1) politics can distort optimal fiscal policy through elections and through political fragmentation, and (2) rules and institutions can attenuate the negative effects of this dynamic. The book has three parts: part 1 (9 chapters) outlines the problems; part 2 (6 chapters) outlines how institutions and fiscal rules can offer solutions; and part 3 (4 chapters) discusses how multilevel governance frameworks can help.