Fiscal constitution: World applications and applicability in Turkey

By preventing populist and favoritist expenditures which cause budget deficit and public borrowing, rule-based fiscal policy implementations aim to ensure fiscal discipline, to increase financial performance, predictability and reliability, to ensure effective resource allocation and to create an environment of economic confidence. Rule-based fiscal policies continue to be widely implemented in many developed and developing countries since the 1990s. The aim of this study is to draw attention to the necessity of constitutionally securing rule-based fiscal policy practices in Turkey and to offer practical suggestions based on examples from around the world. In this context, firstly the schools of economic thought that were effective in the development of the idea of limiting the power of the state with constitutional norms were explained. Then, the effects of numerical and procedural fiscal rules about instruments such as public revenues like public budget, taxes, public expenditures and public debt management have been evaluated. In the last part, the fiscal rules implemented in the EU on the level of the Union and the countries and in the USA on the level of the federal government and the states were discussed, fiscal rules and similar practices in Turkey were included, and the applicability of the subject for Turkey was discussed. In conclusion, it is believed that constitutionally secured fiscal rules in Turkey will be beneficial in achieving the mentioned goals.