This dissertation research seeks to examine the effects of two sets of factors, transnational economic linkages and internal economic and political characteristics, upon the growth of public expenditures in the 1960s and 1970s and public debt in the 1980s. The objectives are to examine the effects, on state fiscal policies, of the domestic situation within nations in relation to their functioning in the international economy. The project will involve a cross-national analysis of various factors affecting state expenditures and public debt as well as an in-depth comparison of fiscal policies in two nations, Ireland and Austria. Austria provides a case of fiscal stability, while Ireland offers an example of fiscal crisis. This study can contribute to an understanding of the processes determining state fiscal policy. xxx
